The Untold Prophecy
by fanwriter10101
Summary: Everyone has a destiny. Some are destined to live a simple life, others to be great leaders, and then there are those destined to change the fate of an entire galaxy. But destiny is only the endgame, it is the journey to that endgame that defines who we are. Most are content bound to their fates, but some are determined to create their own path.
1. Lost and Found

**Hello there! Well, here it is! The start of the rewrite! As you can see, Chapter 1 is big and it is my hope that you all will enjoy it. This story is the rewrite of the Expelled Jedi, even if it goes by a different name. Think of this as a prologue, well, treat the first few chapters as a prologue if you will! I am sure you will notice the better grammar, flow and so on. Remember, this is just the start. The pairing will remain the same, that I can assure you, but there will be built up to that relationship. With that out of the way, I hope you all enjoy it!**

The unknown regions of the galaxy are a vast expanse of space that has yet to be properly explored. It has long been the source of many tales and wonders parents have told to their children before bed. Many have tried to venture off into the unknown region, situated in the west part of the galaxy, and far beyond the Outer Rim. Seeking after the many systems that have yet to be explored, the many resources yet to be exploited.

However, long ago, the region was once a seat of power for a very old, very ancient empire that ruled with an iron fist. It was an empire forged upon slavery, and aggressive expansion. It was an empire that predated the Republic, the Jedi, and the Sith. A very old and ancient empire indeed, yet, like all empires, it withers as the sands of time tick onwards. However, the after effects of that empire can still be seen.

Far into the unknown regions, deep enough that one might even call it the edge of the galaxy, lies a star system. In that system is a planet with lush forests, large deserts, massive oceans, and a vast expanse of mountain ranges. It seemed like your average planet where life had found a way to thrive. Expect in a…unique way.

"He's done it again!" A man shouted to his comrade as he gazed up at a large rocky formation with a frown, lip curled into a nasty snarl.

"Why is the Hokage always letting him get away with vandalizing the monument?" Questioned a female as she shook her head and bore her teeth in a sneer. The Hokage Monument, an iconic monument to display the visage of the fourt greatest men the village had ever known, carved into the side of a large mountain that overlooked the village below. The people greatly respected the Hokage, after all, they had all led the village thought troubling times.

"You'll never catch me at that speed!" Shouted out a young boy, clad in a horrible orange jumpsuit. It wasn't the jumpsuit that was repulsing, it was the color, really, a very vibrant sunset orange that made the eyes scream in pain. The boy ran, lept, and skidded through the village at great speeds, while being chased by uniformed adults, all trying fruitlessly to catch the orange eyesore.

"Get back here!" One of the adults yelled, he was wearing a few bandages on his left arm and some holsters on his right, along with a vest. Tied around his head, was a forehead protector, with a metal plating on the front consisting of a leaf engraved into it.

"How is he this fast?!" Another one shouted as the all stumbled and keeled over to catch their breaths, they were being outrun by a freaking kid! He wasn't even a real genin yet!

"Must be the work of _**that demon**_..." One of the men replied with venom in his voice. It was clear that the man was no fan of that kid. However, he was silenced by the next man.

"Are you _crazy_?! What if someone heard you? The Thirds law is still in effect", his comrade-in-arms reprimanded him in a hushed voice. The man just shrugged.

"The village hasn't done too good of job at hiding it now, have they?" the man dismissed his colleague before returning to chase after the little orange speed demon. The other man sighed as he jumped on top of a buildings and began his search. They failed to notice a section of the wall behind them peel off, revealing the blond-haired kid they were rushing after. The boy only looked at the retreating figures of the two men chasing him, trying to figure out what they meant. This wasn't the first time he was called a demon, but in all his years he still did not know why was he called such a thing.

"And they call themselves ninjas!" The boys expression changed from the sulk into a grin as he laughed at the so call ninjas. Clearly, they weren't anyone special if they couldn't track down a single kid. His laughter was cut short as a shadow was cast down upon him, a large shadow. The boy started to nervously laugh as he slowly turned around. Standing behind him, was a very tall man, who's most dominant feature was the scar that traveled arcos his one cheek, over his nose and to the other.

"H-Hey Iruka-sensei…" The boy stated as the said back stared down at him with anger, something the boy had gotten used to over the years.

"Naruto…first you skip class and then you go and vandalize the Monument? You're in a _lot_ of trouble." Iruka hung on those last few words.

Naruto huffed and turned his head away from his sensei. "Whatever" he replied, this caused the man's anger to rise as he raised a fist and brought into down upon the blond mop of hair.

"Don't 'whatever' me you little brat! You're going to clean the Monument from your latest act of vandalism. After class that is!" The man yelled out as he restrained the boy with some rope as if he was some sort of criminal, which in a way he was.

 **That Afternoon**

Naruto groaned as he washed the Hokage Monument. His sensei had other things to attend, leaving him alone to clean up his mess. At first, he had thought about simply leaving. Sure, he had painted the Monument, but how could they not see it was an improvement! Boredom ultimately set in as the sun began to approach the horizon.

"I guess it's time to head back to the house…" Naruto thought as he left the momument unfinished. The sun had already begun to set, painting the sky with an orangish color similar to his jumpsuit. He walked slowly on his way home, but along the way he grew hungry and started to run back home. It wasn't long before he arrived home.

 _"More like back to the dump…"_ He thought as he nearly tripped over an empty bowl entering his small apartment. It was run down, smelled like garbage, and was an overall mess. Yep, this was a dump alright, but it was _his_ dump. This was the home the Third had given him after he could take care of himself. Entering the small kitchen, which was really an extension of the living room, he opened a cabinet and pulled out some instant ramen. He readied some water to boil and waited. Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath.

 _"That feeling…it's back again"_ He thought as he pondered the strange energy around him. It wasn't chakra, it didn't feel like the chakra he'd used in his exercises. It was…different. He could feel many different life forms around him, the owl soaring in the sky, the crickets chirping in the grass, the bats awakening in the trees, but the strangest thing was that all these life forms felt…connected.

 _"My senses lately have always felt so…clear. It's as if I can see everything,_ _ **feel**_ _everything…"_ He continued to feel the world around him. However, his experimentation was cut short as his mind was bombardment by some strange images. Images of war, of soldiers clad in white armor, of these strange warriors wielding some strange weapons that glowed. A rasping breath echoed its way into his mind. Then, he saw the most disturbing of all images, genocide. Thousands were slaughtered, men, women, and children. He turned to see a large menacing figure clad in black armor that reached out to grab him. His eyes shot open as sweat poured down his forehead, his breathing labored the horrifying echo slowly faded from his mind.

"W-What was that?" He questioned himself as he stood up, a bit disoriented from the experience. It was the strangest event with these powers of his. He had discovered them on accident a while back and had no luck figuring out what it was. It was clear to him that no one else seemed to possess this strange power. As if they would help if even if they did. He was broken out of his thoughts as he heard the signature whistling of steam from his kitchen.

"Crap! The water!" Naruto yelled as he quickly ran to grab the kettle, however, in his rush he accidently grabbed the more metallic part of the kettle. As soon as he grabbed it, his hand recoiled back from the heat. However, as he drew his hand back, an invisible force seemed to pull the kettle off the stove, the water spilling over.

"What's going on here?!" He questioned himself in disbelief. Did he do that? No, that's impossible. He didn't launch any kind of attack, in-fact, he hadn't seen anything touch the kettle. His thought grew frantic and then suddenly came to a stop. He gulped as he began to sweat.

"Is it a g-g-ghost?" He stuttered out as he looked around carefully. The odds of his apartment being haunted by some ghostly being were quite likely, after all, it looked like someone was murdered here long ago. He slowly approached the kettle and picked it up carefully as to not offend any spirits. However, he quickly dropped it with a yelp as he heard a knock on his door. His heart began to beat faster and faster as he slowly turned towards the door. It didn't help that it was dark outside and only a single light source illuminated the hallway to the door.

 _"Please be Iruka-sensei coming to scold me…_ _ **PLEASE**_ _be Iruka-sensei… "_ He prayed Iruka had noticed his unfinished work and was coming to make him finish the job. He slowly made his way to the door, sweat pouring down his forehead. With a trembling hand, he grabbed on to the knob of the door and gulped.

 _"This is it…"_ He thought, readying himself for the worst. Time stood still as he slowly opened the door and found a…green imp?

 _"_ What the hell?" He questioned as he stared down at a strange green being. He was short, even shorter then him, yet the green little creature used a cane. The little thing had pointy ears and seemed quite wrinkly. It wore a robe the size fit for a toddler. The unknown creature seemed to be giving him a smile.

"Found you, I have." It spoke. It talked! Was he dreaming? Yes, this had to be a dream! He must still be experimenting with those strange powers of his or it could have been that expired milk. This was all too much for him to handle and so he did the next best thing; he fainted. The green little creature blinked as it stared at the boy. Expected a reaction like this, he did not.

 **A Few Minutes Later**

Naruto groaned out as he sat up right in his bed with one of his hands massaging his head. He had the strangest dreaming apparently. First, some ghost knocked over his kettle. Second, a strange green creature had knocked on his door.

"I should really get some fresh milk next time." Naruto muttered with a sigh as he got of his bed and headed to the kitchen to grab some water.

"Awake, you are. Good." He heard a voice, thought it sounded old and odd given how the words were spoken.

"Yeah, I'm good…wait a minute!?" Naruto shouted as he turned around to find that green little creature.

"Wait you say? Hmmm." The little creature hummed as Naruto now looked at it with curiosity. It wasn't human, that was a given.

"What are you? A frog? Toad?" Naruto questioned as the creature laughed, even the way it laughed sounded odd to him.

"A Frog? Me? No." It answered as Naruto sweat-dropped, what was up with this little creature?

"Then what are you?" Naruto questioned as he took a seat. The creature hummed and hobbled over to a chair and jumped on top of it. Naruto's jaw almost fell to the ground. That chair was too tall for it and it jumped on it!

"Ok, who are you?" Naruto questioned seriously. The little green creature looked at him with a smile.

"Grand Master, I am" The little thing answered as Naruto almost fell out of his chair.

"That's not an answer!" Naruto questioned as the creature laughed.

"An answer, it was. Perhaps not the answer you seek?" It answered back, causing Naruto to simply sigh. It was clear that the little green creature was smatter then it looked.

"Grand Master of what?" Naruto questioned. Maybe this creature from some super secret ninja village?

"Of the Jedi, I am." It answered as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"What's a Jedi?" Naruto questioned, was it a type of ninja he'd never heard of? Maybe an organization like the ANBU?

"Protectors, they are. Protect the galaxy, we do." The creature answered as Naruto was now lost. What the hell is a galaxy?!

"Ok…I didn't get any of that. Who are you again?" Naruto questioned, wanting to know the name of this odd creature was talking to.

"Yoda, am I." The creature answered as Naruto nodded. It was clearly that whatever he was, he was a male, given his vocals and his name.

"What an odd name." Naruto stated as Yoda laughed before he pointed his cane at Naruto.

"And what is your name, young one?" Yoda questioned as Naruto grinned and pointed at himself with a thumb.

"Me? I am Naruto Uzumaki and I am going to be Hokage someday!" Naruto introduced himself as Yoda hummed and nodded.

"A strong name, it is. Maelstrom, it means. Not wrong, am I?" said Yoda as Naruto's grin got wider. Finally! Someone who didn't call him fishcake!

"Yeah, and you better remember it!" Naruto stated as Yoda laughed. Clearly, this boy was more then he seemed. The Force was unusually strong with this one. It had to be, after all, he wouldn't have left the Jedi Temple and journeyed into the uncharted edges of the galaxy to find one boy.

 _"Guided me, has the Force, yet clouded the future is…"_ Yoda thought, not knowing what the future held for this boy, but it was something grand. However, there was something else about this child. Looking around the room, he noticed that there wasn't much, only the essentials one needed to survive. Food, water, clothes, and a bed. That was it. No pictures, no luxuries items, nothing. If Yoda were a Padawan, he might have thought that Naruto was living like a Jedi.

"Hey old man!" Naruto shouted out as Yoda raised an eyebrow.

"Old, I am?" He questioned him, acting a bit surprised that been referred to as old.

"You… kind of are? I mean, look at you! You got wrinkles, you use a cane to walk around, and you hobble while you walk! I bet you're as old as the Third!" Naruto proclaimed as Yoda chuckled at that. He was far older then Naruto had assumed.

"Old, am I, but also wise." Yoda stated, establishing that fact that his old age had made him wise throughout the ages. Naruto snorted.

"Whatever old man. How did you find me? How come I've never heard of jedis and galaxies and…creatures like you?" Naruto questioned, not knowing what a Yoda was, other than this Grand Master.

"Guided by the Force, I was. Led me to you, the Force has." Yoda replied as Naruto gave him a blank stare.

"Ok, first off, what is this Force you speak of? Then tell me why you came here!" Naruto demanded as Yoda hummed. Clearly, it would hard to explain this to the boy as this planet was quite some ways off from the known Galaxy and hadn't achieved space travel or even an industrial revolution of sorts.

"Hmm, my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us." Yoda lectured as Naruto's head was now spinning. For an eight year old, this was all crazy talk that made no sense. Yoda knew that the boy had no idea what he was talking about, but he went on.

"Ask you why I come? Simple, strong you are with the Force. Hmm, yes. Very strong. Created powerful disturbances, you did, years ago. Searching for the cause, I have been." Yoda answered the second part of the question, however, there was more to it than that. Yoda is considered a very wise and powerful Jedi, one who is very strong with the Force. Naruto however ruffled his hair in confusion.

"I still don't get it." Naruto stated as Yoda hummed before he thought of an idea.

"Knew the woman was with child, did you not?" Yoda questioned as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"What are you…" Naruto started off before his eyes widened. He remembered that day three years ago. He had congratulated a woman for being with child in hopes of having someone noticing him rather than ignore him. The woman in return got angry, claiming that just because she was on the heavy side didn't mean she was pregnant. This earned him a lot of angry glares from the people around. Thinking that it was an honest mistake, he had apologized. However, nine months later, the very same woman was holding a newborn.

"Yeah…I guess I did know…but how did y-" Naruto muttered out.

"Know you did, but how?" Yoda continued as Naruto was left speechless. How did he know that the woman was pregnant all those years ago?

"I…all I remember was this feeling and a voice in my head." Naruto started to explain as Yoda nodded.

"Guide by the Force, you were. Of the life within her, the Force told you." Yoda explained as Naruto was now deep in his thoughts.

 _"Was it really this...Force? These abilities of mine…are they really this Force he speaks off?"_ Naruto questioned himself as he thought over it. Now that he did think about it, there were many times he would gain a sense of clarity and understanding of his environment, but that mostly happened during fights. Then his thoughts came back to those visions he had.

"Wait…then those images, those visions I had today…" Naruto questioned as Yoda raised an eyebrow. Paraphs the Force was telling the boy something?

"Images? Visions? Hmm. Possible futures, the Force tells you of." Yoda stated, while the Force did send various visions of the future, they were all the possible future, nothing solid.

"But it felt so real. All the death, destruction, and chaos." Naruto said as Yoda's facial features turned serious.

"Hmm. What images, did you see?" Yoda questioned, clearly the Force was trying to tell the boy something important.

"I saw these strange warriors clad in white armor. Genocide of thousands of men, women, and children, most armed with these strange glowing swords. I…I could feel their deaths, the pain, the suffering… and that terrible sound…" Naruto answered as a tear rolled down his cheeks unknowingly. Yoda hummed once more. This was truly a disturbing possible future the boy had received.

"Know not of these warriors, do I. But, know I do, of these swords." Yoda responded as he pulled out a strange device and activated it. A green energy shot out and leveled out. Naruto was awed at the strange piece of technology.

"Those are the swords! Those are the ones I saw in my vision!" Naruto said, surprised by the sword.

"A Lightsaber, it is. The weapon of a Jedi." Yoda stated as Naruto dumbly nodded, not knowing what lightsabers were really. He slumped back into the chair and sighed. This was like a dream. Everything was happening way too fast. He, an eight-year-old child, was being exposed to so many things that didn't make any sense.

"Sense conflict within you, I do?" Yoda questioned as Naruto looked down, his features hardening.

"Why? Why me?" Naruto questioned as Yoda hummed. It was a reasonable question, coming from an eight-years-old child, more so if the said child was from a backwatered world.

"Works in mysteries ways, the Force does. Sense potential greatness within you, I do." Yoda answered as trustfully as he could. He himself didn't know why the Force chose a child that knew nothing of the known Galaxy, but he trusted the Force. It was his guide that led him here.

"I don't know much about this Force thing, but I am starting to like it! There's no way I'm not becoming Hokage now!" Naruto boasted with a grin as Yoda chuckled. There was something about this boy that gave off this warm feeling.

"Become this Hokage, you very well could. However, not possible it is, if you choose to join the order." Yoda busted Naruto's bubble as he looked at him as if he had grown a second head

"What do you mean it's not possible? And why would I join this order?" Naruto questioned as Yoda sighed, this was part of why the Jedi took children away when they were just infants, with the parents' permission that is.

"Learn to use the Force, you must. A dark path you could follow, if unchecked is it's influence." Yoda stated as Naruto looked at him confused.

"What do you mean a dark path?" Naruto questioned, flashes of how they looked at him as if he was a demon, a monster.

"Two sides of the Force, there are. Light and Dark. Walk the path of Light, the Jedi do. The Dark path, did the Sith. Great power lies in the Dark Side, but also great pain and suffering." Yoda explained as Naruto gulped. He wanted to be strong, to prove everyone wrong and the best way to do that was to be Hokage. Now this green creature was telling him that would never be possible if he should learn the ways of the Force.

"B-But being the Hokage is all I have! It's the only dream I know!" Naruto protested as he jumped out of his chair.

"Then new dreams, you must follow. Vast, the galaxy is. Much is there to do." Yoda stated as Naruto sighed and looked towards the window. He could see the Hokage Monument from here. How he dreamed of seeing his face being part of that Monument. He then turned towards Yoda and steeled himself.

"Nah. I'm fine right here. I'm going to become the Hokage one day and then everyone will acknowledge me! I'll learn these fancy schmancy Force powers of yours on my own!" Naruto said with a stern bravado. Yoda grew concerned. For someone as potentially powerful as Naruto, letting him learn the Force on his own would be dangerous.

"Learn the Force on your own, you must not. Grave danger, I sense would come. Fall to the dark side, you could. A threat to the galaxy, you might not be, but to your friends and home, you could be." Even if his planet's technology was lightyears away from hyperspace travel, it still wouldn't bode well for the people of his home planet.

"F-friends and home? Well, I don't have any of the first one, but the Leaf Village is definitely my home." Naruto stuttered out, but Yoda saw right through his facade.

"Think of this place as home, do you? Remember, a Master of the Force, I am. See through you, I can. Yearn for friendship, you do. A place to belong, you desire. Become this Hokage, you want, but realitsic, that goal is not." Yoda said quite harshly. He felt guilt using Naruto's feelings against him, but the potential danger was too great.

"I-I'll make friends one day. Once I become a great ninja, everyone will pick me as the fifth Hokage! Then everyone will want to be my friend!" Naruto said, his conviction growing flimsy.

" _Elected_ , the hokage is? Elected, how would you be, if well liked, you are not?" Yoda's words cut deep into Naruto. He hadn't thought about that. He had always thought if he just became the strongest ninja in the village eventually everyone would choose him as the next Hokage. Naruto couldn't process that information, and so his first reaction was to get angry at the person responsible for this confusion.

"Then I don't care about becoming Hokage! Konoha village is still my home!" Naruto snapped. He was about done with this little frog man.

"Home, this is? Feel like home, this does not. Where the Force takes us, is our home. A destiny you have, young Naruto. Tether yourself to false concepts of home, and squander it, you will." Yoda stubbornly refused to back down. Yoda's questions had really gotten Naruto thinking about his future. He had no friends, and the few that he considered friends he saw in the academy from time to time. But the Leaf was his home, right?

 _"What kind of home shuns and abuses a child?"_ Naruto thought as he started out the window, towards the Hokage monument. They wouldn't make him Hokage just because he was strong, no, a Hokage was chosen because they were respected by the people. No amount of strength could force someone to love him. Hell most of them wouldn't even care if he vanished, they would celebrate it instead! He sighed as he though over his choices. Stay and live the rest of his life in the leaf, trying to become Hokage of a village that shunned and hated him, or leave and see worlds beyond his where he wouldn't be ignored without reason. In a sense, it would be like an adventure. A vast galaxy, filled with the unknowns. It really was a tempting and a logical choice.

 _"He said that these powers will endanger people around me if I don't do something train them…"_ Naruto thought as his fists tightened into balls. They would hate him more if he harmed someone simply because he didn't know how to control his power. He took in a deep breath before exhaling. He had made his choice.

"Fine…then let's go." Naruto stated as Yoda raised an eyebrow.

"Say goodbye to no one, you will?" Yoda questioned as Naruto looked down sadly.

"There is no one to say goodbye to. You can use the Force, you know my instructors at the academy hate me, the villagers ignore me, the other children don't play with me. The only one who might actually care about me is old man Hokage, but it doesn't matter. So, let's go, the sooner we leave, the better." Naruto said as he stood up and began to gather his things. Yoda merely sighed.

 _"Sense sadness within him, I do."_ Yoda thought as Naruto gathered the things he needed, mostly clothes and some practice shuriken. "Your weapons, you will not need them." He said as Naruto ignored him, attaching the small holster to his right thigh. He knew why the child was sad and angry, he was leaving the only home he knew, even if that home had ignored him for most of his life.

"Led the way old man." Naruto said as he grabbed his bag. He was leaving the village, and every single rude person in it, behind. He still somewhat hoped in his heart that after mastering this Jedi thing he could come and become Hokage one day. Yoda nodded and started to head out, at a very slow pace. Naruto exited his apartment with Yoda and shuddered a bit. The night was quite chilling. As he followed Yoda, he wondered how no one was throwing questionable look at Yoda.

"Not to be rude, but why is no one looking at you?" Naruto questioned Yoda who chuckled.

"Weak, their minds are. Easily manipulated by the Force, they are." Yoda answered cryptically as Naruto sweat dropped, what did he expect from this old man? An actual answer? He didn't know how long it took them, but they walked on and on, passing the gates of the village and through the woods that surrounded the village.

"How much longer?" Naruto questioned, a bit annoyed.

"Patience, it is the beginning of a Jedi." Yoda responded as Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Sure." Naruto replied as Yoda finally stopped. Naruto's jaws almost fell to the floor as he saw this odd thing before him.

"W-What is this?!" Naruto questioned as Yoda started to board the strange structure.

"A starship, this is." Yoda answered as Naruto shook his head and followed Yoda into the starship as Yoda called it. As he walked through the hallway, he found it quite large on the inside. As he followed Yoda, they entered what Naruto thought was a gathering area for the crew. On the right wall of the ship were some letters and numbers.

"YT-1760?" Naruto questioned as dropped his stuff on one of the tables.

"The ship's model, that is." Yoda responded, from a different area of the ship. Naruto started to explore the ship, finding many different rooms, mostly for the rest of the crew that was missing from the ship. Then he stumbled into the room where Yoda was. The end of the room consisted of glass and he could see the forest outside. There were many different buttons and other piece of technology around the room.

"What room is this?" Naruto questioned, it wasn't crew quarters, that was for sure.

"The cockpit, this is. Pilot the ship, from here you can." Yoda answered as he was punching in some numbers. Naruto marveled at it, but stumbled as the ship shook.

"W-What's going on?" Naruto questioned as the forest started to descend? He walked up to the cockpit and once again he was given a shock of his life time, they were flying!

"Holy… w-we're flying!" Naruto yelled, while looking down at the forest below that was getting smaller and smaller.

"Taking a seat, I recommend." Yoda advised with an amused smile. Naruto blinked, but was suddenly thrown back as the ship started to accelerate at great speeds.

"You could have told me that before old man!" Naruto yelled at Yoda, who was chuckling at the blonde's expense. What the two of them didn't know was that they had changed the future of Naruto's world and that of the Galaxy as a whole.

 **Well, how was it? Good, bad? You decide! The beta for this story has been very helpful and a big shout out to them! You know who you are. With that said, I hope you are looking forward to the next chapter! Also, someone claimed that all I will have will be is like 10+ Chapters of nothing but Naruto training. Really? No, I hate stories who do that, dragging out the training to no ends. The best you will find is only one chapter that shows his training. With that out of the way, I hope you all have a great day! Bye!**


	2. Family

**Hello! How are you all doing? Good I hope! I am glad that the rewrite is being received positively. Now then, onto the questions! First, the pairing will remain the same as the last story, so Bo, Aayla and Chuchi, that is the end of that. Second, Naruto's world will play little to no role in the Star Wars galaxy. Third, at the first chapter I talked about an ancient Empire, I didn't just say it for the hell of it, there is a reason I talked about then, and some of you can already assume how this effects Naruto. Forth, some of you are saying that Naruto is going to be a goody Jedi, well no shit, he started out as a Jedi. In the first story, I just jumped to his exile, this story will LEAD up to his exile. Fifth, Naruto won't just start out as a powerful, OP Jedi Knight at the age of 11 that can bring down whole Fleets, like, really? How is a character like that any fun? What is this? Dragon ball? With that out of the way I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Have a great day!**

 **Four Years Earlier**

Grand Master Yoda is considered the wisest Jedi in all the order, after all, he was over 800 years old. However, over the past few years, something has been amiss about him. While one might usually have found him teaching younglings or counseling young Jedi, he recently has been going in and out of the library, traveling to different planets, searching for something. Going through many Holocrons stored within the depths of the temple vaults to no avail. One could also find him mediating almost all day, sometimes avoiding sessions of the council and so on. The other Jedi Masters began to worry. What had the Grand Master found that had all his attention?

"With all due respect Master Yoda, I think you should take one of us with you." Mace Windu stated as he and the rest of the Jedi Council had gathered in the temples hanger. Why? It seemed like Master Yoda was going on a journey.

"Go alone, I must. Called to me alone, the Force has" Yoda replied as Mace Windu sighed. Yoda was being quite stubborn about this. Saying how this was the will of the Force.

"But what has attracted your attention for you to be this concerned?" Jedi Master Plo Koon questioned as he stroked his mask. Had the Grand Master seen visions?

"Know, I do not" Yoda replied as he started to board his transport as the Jedi Council looked at each other. So not only was Yoda going on this journey, but he also had no clue as to what he was looking for? The Force did work in mysteries ways it seems…

"If this is what you wise. May the Force be with you" Windu stated as the ramp closed and the ship slowly began to ascend before launching out of the hanger, heading straight towards space and to wherever Yoda had wanted it to go. It would be nearly four years later when Yoda would return.

 **Present Day**

"Holy crap! Look at the size of those buildings!" Naruto shouted out as he marveled at the sight of Coruscant's skyline. They almost reached the heavens above! Yoda smiled at Naruto's enthusiasm. Naruto was still a child, despite the maturity he showed from time to time.

"Vast, the Galaxy is. Much larger structures, there are." Yoda stated as Naruto looked at him in awe. He couldn't imagine structures larger than the ones he was witnessing. It was impossible!

"If you say so…I'm just glad that we're gonna land soon. I was going to go crazy If I had to spend another month in this ship learning Basic." Naruto said with mild annoyance. Hyperspace travel was cool at first, but seeing all the blue, black, and white lights was driving him insane as he studied the primary language of the galaxy. A month of studying had given him a decent understanding of the language, but he still had much to learn about the galaxy as a whole. The light freighter shot through the skylines of Coruscant and approached the Jedi temple. As it approached the hanger, it slowed down and entered the hanger and was quick to land.

"You know, I didn't expect you to be a one hell of a pilot, old man." Naruto complimented Yoda who chuckled in his own way as he jumped out of pilot's chair and began to head out. Naruto was quick to follow as he grabbed his bag, along with a few of the water balloons Yoda had been teaching him with. Naruto was far too excited to learn how to use the Force, and rather rather than punish him for his eagerness, Yoda had opted to use balloons as targets to levitate and toss around, a sort of game of catch where either could only use the force to block the balloons. They were filled with water halfway through the training to increase both the difficulty and the consequences for Naruto. If he pulled them too hard, they would come smacking right into his face and soak him.

"Hey! Wait up!" Naruto shouted out as he ran after Yoda who chuckled while he hobbled out of the ship. Not long after Naruto ran out of the ship after Yoda, he ran face first into something soft, yet firm, and bouncy. It felt like he ran into two plush pillows, and for a moment, he wanted to lie down and take a nap before he came to his senses and realized he had collided into someone's backside.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, brat! Running into me like that..." The person he ran into happened to be a female in her teens. Naruto looked up and almost did a double take. She had shoulder-length, silky blonde hair with a strange looking braid, and pale blue eyes, just like him. The only difference between the two were the skin tone and the fact that Naruto had whiskers on his cheeks. At first, Naruto blushed, but quickly shook his head and stood up.

"Me? You're the one standing in everyone's way!" Naruto yelled back as he shot her a glare. The adolescent girl looked down at him, taken aback by the boy's lip.

"What?! You're the one who was running recklessly through the hanger!" She countered, only to receive a glare from Naruto. If she could call it that. He was pouting and glaring at her and he looked so damn cute doing it too! The fact that his whiskers were adding to his cuteness was just overkill!

The young woman resisted the urge to pinch his cheeks in her hands and let her scowl relax into a more passive expression. Seeing this, Naruto smirked and quickly threw a water balloon at her and it hit her dead on.

"Ha!" Naruto yelled as he chased after Yoda, leaving the young woman in a state of disbelief. Was she really just pranked by a kid? Quickly breaking out of her trance, she turned on her heel and began to chase him, the scowl on her face returning a hundredfold.

"Hold it right there, you brat!" She yelled as Naruto simply laughed as he sprinted down the large hallways, passing Yoda, who shook his head, but you could see a small smile on his face.

"Already causing trouble, is he?" Yoda asked himself with a chuckle as the teen girl ran past him. Naruto ran as fast as he could, turning the corners fast, dodging the many Younglings, Padawan's and even some Jedi Knights. However, this girl wasn't about to give up the chase so easily, she was just as fast as he was and there was no way she wasn't going to teach this prankster a lesson.

"When I get my hands on you!" The female Padawan bellowed down the hall as Naruto laughed at her attempts to catch him.

"How're ya gonna do that with your current speed, slowpoke!" Naruto taunted as he looked back while turning a corner. Big mistake. Once again, he bumped into someone. This time, the force knocked him back on his rear as he looked up. It seemed that he had bumped into a male this time. The young man had short light brown hair with a long braid hanging over the front of his shoulder. His gray-blue eyes gazed down at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Some one stop that ki-…Kenobi?" The girl stopped after rounding the corner. The young man named Kenobi looked up at her and blinked and then back to the child and gave him an amused smile.

"Well hello there." Kenobi said with a small smile as he offered Naruto a hand up.

"Right back at ya." Naruto responded as the female Jedi got a sweat drop.

"R-really? You bump into me...and I get a water balloon in my face, b-but you bump into him and all he gets is a greeting?" She questioned between labored breaths as the adrenaline wore off. Naruto simply shrugged and turned back to her.

"He didn't accuse me of anything." He responded with a smirk as the female fumed at him while the young man chuckled.

"Chasing down younglings again? Maybe you did need to cool off Siri." The man named Kenobi mocked her after noticing her soaked head and robes, the joke at her expense made Naruto burst into a snicker as the young woman rolled her eyes.

"You would be chasing after him too if he threw a water balloon at you." She countered as Kenobi began to laugh.

"Oh dear, it seems that the great Siri Tachi has been outclassed by a youngling." Kenobi stated with a chuckle as Siri growled. However, before she could say anything, she heard a chuckle behind her. Turning around, she was surprised to find Master Yoda.

"Oh, Master Yoda!" She said as she bowed slightly as the Grand Master chuckled.

"Gave you quite the chase, did he?" Yoda questioned as he gestured towards Naruto, who was grinning ear to ear. Kenobi meanwhile observed the conversation.

"Yes, Master Yoda. This brat is surprisingly fast for his age." Siri stated as Naruto gained a tick mark.

"Hey! I'm not a brat! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Dattebayo!" Naruto shouted, but immediately blushed. His verbal tic was something that he thought he had phased out while learning basic on the way to Coruscant, clearly, he hadn't. Siri had taken notice of his embarrassment and smirked.

"...Dattebay-Oh...? Does someone have an embarrassing verbal tic from his home planet?" She teased as she got down to his level. She had finally got one over on him, and the defeated Naruto could only turn away in embarrassment. Yoda chuckled but started to walk once more.

"Come now, young one. Await us, the council does." Yoda stated as Naruto quickly followed, leaving Siri and Kenobi staring at the two. Naruto turned around briefly and stick his tongue out at Siri while giving her the finger as well. A frustrated huff was all she gave in response.

"Well, that was amusing. Mind telling me who the youngling was?" He inquired as she shook her head.

"I have no clue, one second I'm in the hanger greeting Master Yoda, and the next second some brat runs into my behind." She answered as she sighed and began to head back to the hanger to prep her ship, leaving Kenobi chuckling.

 **With Yoda and Naruto**

As Yoda led Naruto to the council chambers, he thought back to the first year he had been out searching for the source of the disturbance he had felt all those years ago. He remembered how during his travel, he was bombarded by images during his deep meditations.

 _"A large creature, I saw. And then a child."_ Yoda thought as he made his way to the chambers. That large fox had given off an aura of power, raw power. Not only that, but it reeked of some sort of dark energy. Not exactly the Dark Side, but it was close enough. He didn't quite know if Naruto was the child he had seen in his visions. He banished those thoughts as the two now stood before the council chambers door.

"Arrived, we have." Yoda stated as Naruto nodded. While Yoda had explained to him on the ship that he would have to train in the ways of the Force, he had also explained that the council would decide if he were to be inducted within the order. Naruto took a deep breath as the council doors swished open. As the two walked in, Naruto looked around the room to find many different species of alien races. Yoda had explained to him that the Galaxy was inhabited by other beings, aliens as they were referred to as. It was a given as Yoda himself was an alien, so it wasn't a hard fact to accept.

 _"So, these people are all Jedi Masters?"_ Naruto thought as he looked around the room while Yoda walked up to his chair and sat down in it.

"Master Yoda, we are pleased that see you returned unharmed. How are you feeling?" a man with dark skin started off the pleasantries as everyone nodded. It had been four years since Yoda had left on his journey to the unknown regions. Only the Force knew where he had been as Yoda didn't communicate at all during the long journey.

"Hmm, well I am, Master Windu." Yoda replied as Naruto scoffed as the Jedi Masters turned to him and looked at him with curiosity. Who was this boy that the Grand Master had brought with him? A Force sensitive?

"Well that's quite the understatement. This old man is as healthy as a horse!" Naruto stated as many of the Masters glared at the disrespect shown to Yoda, while some other chuckled at the boy's youthful vigor.

"Show respect to your elders, boy." One snake-like Jedi Master, Oppo Rancisis, tried to reprimand Naruto, Naruto simply shrugged his words off and turned to look back at a smiling Yoda.

"I must say, this is an odd, but welcome surprise." One Plo Koon stated as he chuckled at the boy's attitude, it reminded him much about some of the other Younglings.

"Indeed, though I sense that Master Yoda has something to say regarding the boy?" Kit Fisto spoke up as everyone turned to face Yoda, who simply sat there with an amused smile and eyes closed.

"Hmm, much have I to say. Strong in the Force is the boy. Learn in the ways of the Force and become a Jedi, he must." Yoda proclaimed much to the shock of most of the council. This was a break from tradition!

"I do not mean to question your judgment Master Yoda, but the boy is far too old to-."

" _Too old_?! I'm barely eight! How could I be too old?" Naruto brazenly interrupted Windu, and act that got him a fierce glare from the Korunnai Jedi Master.

"I sense something...dark in him." Mace Windu stated. Windu had once dabbled with the Dark Side and he could feel something dark within the boy. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the dark-skinned Jedi Master. Those eyes…those were the exact same eyes the villagers threw at him.

"Darkness, I sense in him too, but it is not his." Yoda stated, shocking the council. Was Yoda implying that something resided inside the boy? A sort of spirit maybe?

"If what you say is true, then perhaps the spirit of a Sith resides in him?" Windu questioned, the Sith were experts in such fields and as such, many Sith lords of the past had tied their spirits to objects, waiting to possess some poor fellow that stumbled upon their grave. It may be possible that a Sith was able to hide his spirit away inside another with their knowledge.

"No, not a Sith. A being of the Force, it is not. A spirit of nature, it seems." Yoda clarified as the Jedi Masters looked at each other, wondering what that meant. There weren't many beings that were not of the Force and those that did existed were hard to detect. Only some who was extremely strong with the Force could sense them, and even then, only a few things they could learn about such beings.

"That explains why I can only feel the darkness, not see its origin." Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi stated as the rest seemed to nod at that, though they didn't voice their opinion. At this point Naruto felt like he was being side-line.

"Hey! I'm still here! And I came here to be a Jedi! And I _will_ become a Jedi whether you old fossils allow me or not! No, I'm not just gonna become a Jedi Knight, I'll be the best of the best! I'll become a Grand Master just like Yoda! Dattebayo!" He proclaimed as most of the council looked at him in shock, some like Yoda, Plo Koon, and Kit Fisto smiled at the boy's stalwart determination.

"Become a Jedi, you shall. For I trust in the will of the Force." Yoda stated with a tone that leaved no room for discussion. Some in the council wanted to protest this blunt break away from tradition, while a few were eager to see what this boy would be able to achieve.

"Then might I volunteer to be the boy's instructor?" Plo Koon offered as Yoda hummed, considering the option. A few Jedi Masters, like Kit Fisto, interjected. A Master of order and justice, Plo Koon was. He would be rigid with Naruto and mold him into a Jedi of honor that would uphold the code, even if the initial years of breaking his habits would be most difficult and exceptionally frustrating. But this wasn't anything any Jedi Master couldn't handle, much less a member of the high council like Plo Koon.

"I think it would be wise if I be the boy's instructor, after all, our personalities are quite alike. I'm sure we would have great fun together" Kit Fisto stated. Yoda saw Naruto's eyes lit up at the prospect of having fun while training. Kit Fisto was known to be a rather relaxed Jedi Master, not afraid to show his emotions. He would be a master that would nurture Naruto's eager nature, but also rein in the more unfavorable recklessness of it.

"I too volunteer to be the boy's instructor. I sense great power within him, power that needs to be refined and perfected." Shaak Ti offered to some surprise. She had remained quiet until now. As a Togruta from Shili, Shaak Ti was a master of stealth, but also a master of words. Naruto had told Yoda he been training as a ninja on his homeworld, and he would definitely excel in that aspect under Shaak Ti. Not to mention she might teach him to talk his way out of a fight instead of rushing in headfirst.

"With all due respect Master Yoda, if this dark energy within him tries to control the boy, then maybe it is best if I become his instructor. Out of us all, I have the strongest connection to the dark side. Even if it is not of the Force, it is definitely a dark entity." Mace Windu stated, once again shocking many. He was against the boy's induction to the Order and now he wanted to be his instructor? Yoda hummed, taking into consideration everything he knew about Naruto, his personality, his lifestyle and that of the Masters that had volunteered. Mace would have been the safest choice for Naruto's master, but was the safest Master necessarily the best one?

"Be his instructor, Master Plo Koon, will be. Teach him to be calm and collected, he will. Control the darkness within, Naruto will. Trust in the Force, we must." Yoda answered as Plo Koon nodded and stood up and approached Naruto.

"Well then, I shall be your instructor and hopeful Master. Come with me, young one. We should find you a room." Plo Koon spoke as Naruto slowly nodded. Even though he couldn't see the eyes of this man, or even most of his face, there was this voice in the back of his head telling him to trust this man.

"About time. The sooner we get started, the faster I can become Grand Master!" Naruto stated as Plo Koon chuckled.

"Patience is the beginnings of a Jedi. It would do you well to lull your anticipations." Plo Koon stated as Naruto rolled his eyes. Yoda however chuckled at that statement. It seems like Plo Koon unknowingly embarked the same lesson Yoda had when they first met. With that said, Plo Koon led Naruto out of the chambers and to the quarters where the Younglings lived. Plo Koon said as they walked that today Naruto would have for himself, exploring the temple, but tomorrow the training would begin. With that said, Naruto began to explore the temple, passing by may Younglings, Padawan's, Knights and Masters. As he passed some of the class, something caught his attention.

In one of the classrooms, a blue skin female was practicing lightsaber form. Not that Naruto knew what it was called, but she was practicing Jar'kai, using her two lightsabers, one blue and the other green, to deflect multiple blasts from training remotes. Her movements were graceful, with not a movement wasted. His attention was shifted to the female youngling. She was perhaps a couple of years older than him, but what interested him more was species she was. Those strange looking appendages on her head had Naruto scanning through his memories. He was sure he had seen someone like her in the books he read. What was she called again? Ah, a Twi'lek!

 _"She's pretty…"_ Naruto thought with a blush before he froze as he saw her looking at him. With him being distracted by her beauty and grace, she was easily able to walk up to him with a frown on her face.

"What are you looking at?" She questioned as Naruto blinked before he gave out a nervous laugh.

"A-Ah nothing! I-I was just thinking how pretty you looked." His nervousness and lack of vocabulary resulted in him over-praising her, and he berated himself for his stupidity as the female Twi'lek's blush settled in, a look of confusion and embarrassment on her slender face. That was not one of the responses she had expected. "A-ah, I mean... how pretty it was the way you moved your lightsabers around? It was really cool like 'woosh, woosh'. Yeah, that's... all I meant..." his words trailed off, as his mind congratulated him for his amazing save.

"W-Whatever. You should be in your classes, not roaming about." She stated as she turned on her heels and walked off, hiding her blush. Naruto however, could only blink and wondered what was that all about? Naruto began to walk back to his room before colliding face first into a firm, flat surface after rounding a corner. He concluded it was the very toned abdominal muscles of another Jedi.

"Watch where you're - _**again?!**_ You really need to watch where you're going, brat?" Naruto heard a familiar voice. Looking up to meet them, he looked up to find the teen Jedi he had ran into earlier.

"It's you! What was your name? Seer? Sira? Sera?" Naruto fumbled through familiar sounding names as the female Jedi resisted the urge to facepalm, her name wasn't that hard dammit!

"My name is Siri, Siri Tachi!" She corrected him as he shrugged.

"Close enough." He responded. Siri simply sighed, this boy was a riot, she was sure of that. She looked at him, this time with a serious face. She had heard that there was a new Youngling that was inducted into the Order. It seems that news traveled fast.

"So, you're the new youngling? I heard that your instructor is going to be Master Plo Koon." She stated as Naruto grinned, that grin of his practically lighted up the large hallway like the twin Suns of Tatooine.

"Yup! And I'm going to be the greatest Jedi there ever existed!" He proclaimed, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

"That's quite the goal, after all, there have been many great Jedi." Siri stated in feigned interest as Naruto crossed his arms and gave her a determined look.

"So? I'll be better than you in no time!" Naruto rebuked as she chuckled at him.

" _Really_? Well, I would love to see that happen." She said in amusement as Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"You don't think I can do it, do you?" He questioned as she shook her head with a chuckle.

"No, I don't doubt you, after all, the Force works in mysterious ways. Anything's possible if you work hard enough." She replied sarcastically as Naruto narrowed his eyes at her in brief suspicion before he smiled and jumped up in excitement, clearly missing the point. This was the first time, other the Yoda, that anyone believed that he would be able to achieve his goal. He might have annoyed her, but Siri didn't have the heart to crush his newfound joy with the truth.

"I'm surprised that the Jedi council let you in, I mean, you're what? Six years old, short stuff? That's still too old to be inducted into the Order. I more surprised that your family allowed you to leave." She wondered, however, why Naruto's expression had shifted so suddenly when he heard the word family. She looked down at him and wondered why his mood did a one-eighty. From that aloof, whimsical boy she was talking to earlier his mood had changed to one of sulking depression.

"Hey, you alright?" She questioned not knowing that had caused the mood change. Naruto simply stood staring at the ground.

"I-I don't have any family, I'm a... what's the word for someone with no parents?" He answered as she realized her mistake.

"Oh…I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you were an orphan." She stated as Naruto wiped his tears, shook his head, and gave her a big smile.

"Nah it's alright, you didn't know. Besides, no good comes out of crying over spilled milk." Naruto responded cheerfully. He learned early that crying about it would do nothing, it wasn't going to bring back his parents back, or make other people care about him. So, he simply gave up on crying about anything too much. It was easier for him to just keep on moving rather than asking questions that he would never have answers to.

"I don't know much about my family you know. I was too young to remember when the Jedi came. For us, families are forbidden, love is forbidden. Along with many other things." Siri stated as Naruto snorted.

"Really? How can someone protect the Galaxy if they don't care about the people that they swear to protect? When I become Grand Master, I'll change some of these stupid rules!" Naruto claimed as she looked at him in surprise.

"You shouldn't say things like that, it's not that we don't care, we just shouldn't get too attached. Some of the Masters might take great offense if you try to change the sacred traditions of the Jedi." She explained him, thought she herself didn't know her position on the matter.

"Then let them be mad, I'm not going to stop talking about an issue just because of few old farts are upset." Naruto answered her as she shook her head, but smiled. The boy reminded her of herself. Strong, determined, hotheaded. They could pass as siblings had Naruto not have whiskers and his tan skin.

"Well then, how about we break one of the traditions?" She offered as Naruto raised an eyebrow before he grinned.

"Sure!" He answered as she giggled and got down to his level and extend her hand out to him.

"How about we become family? Little brother?" She placed her other hand on his shoulder as Naruto's baby blues stared back into her sky-blue eyes, visibly shocked at what he had just heard. All his life he had wanted a family. It didn't even have to be a family, just someone that would acknowledge him for who he was. And now, here was someone, someone who barely knew him, offering him that. He didn't know when, but tears started to stream down his cheeks as he extended his small hand out and grabbed hers.

"H-Hi lady. My name's Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm eight, by the way. Not six." He answered with a genuine smile. Siri smiled at him as she pulled him into a hug.

"You're pretty short then for an eight-year-old, little brother. My name is Siri Tachi, remember? And I'm _still_ only seventeen, so you'd better cut it out with that lady stuff, okay?" She hadn't realized it yet, but she had just affected the future of the Galaxy unknowingly. ' _Beneath that silliness of his, he's still just a child.'_ She thought as she let him cry on her shoulder.

 **Unknown Location**

Deep within a sewer system, one could find a large gate. A gate to a prison cell. The two large fixtures were held together with a paper of some kind. Behind the gate, one could find a shadowy figure. It was large, very large. The few features one could make out of it were the eyes and the ears.

 **"What is this? Why can't I feel any Chakra around me?"** The figure or rather the creature questioned itself. The inability to sense the Chakra outside was confusing it to no end. It tried to push a strange red energy through the gate, the energy was shot right back at him. The creature growled at his failed attempt.

 **"Damn you, Fourth! I hope you rot in the Shinigami's stomach for all of eternity!"** The creature roared at no one other than a dead man. It growled in frustration at being a prisoner for the third time and this time in a child no less!

 **"No matter, I will break free from this prison soon enough."** The creature claimed as if it was its destiny to break free from this prison of his. Its red slitted eyes closed as the creature began to rest. It would need its energy later it.

 **With Yoda**

Yoda opened his eyes as he frowned. There it was again, that disturbance in the Force, but this time it was closer, a lot closer. This confirmed his suspicions. It seems like Naruto was the cause of the disturbance he had felt now and he did four years before. Whatever it was, he could feel a dark energy of sorts before it quickly faded it away, it faintly reminded of the energy he had felt in his vision four years ago.

 _"Fox, it was. Trapped it is, inside Naruto? Hmm, more mediation, I need."_ Yoda thought as he closed his eyes and began to meditate once more. Allowing the Force to guide him. His mind and senses were enhanced, but surroundings changed to that of a forest. Ahead of him, was a large beast, it's nine tails lashing out at everything, however, at that moment it's tails and body were held down by golden chains. He turned to look towards the origin of the chains, but saw nothing, as if there was a cloud in front of him. Before he could investigate any further, a tall figure, clad in some sort of black armor appeared before him.

 _ **"Now you die, Jedi."**_ He heard a sinister echoing voice as the armored figure raised a red saber and brought it down at him. At that moment, Yoda opened his eyes. He turned towards the window and noticed that the sun had already set. He frowned as thought about the vision he had just seen, part of it was the past, the other a possible future.

 _"Clouded, the future is. Work of the Dark Side, this must be."_ Yoda thought. What was the Force trying to tell him? First it threw some visions of the past, a past that was mostly Naruto's, that he was sure of. But it was the possible visions of the future that confused him. The armored figure, the red lightsaber, and just the overall feeling of the Dark Side made him realize something; the Sith might not be as extinct as the Jedi's had thought.

"Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future. Clouded by the Dark Side, it is." Yoda thought as he decided to turn in for the day. He would meditate more on this later.

 **Alright! That was the end of this Chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it very much and I hope it answered some of your questions. With that said, I would like to thank my Beta Reader for this story, Digman14. He has been instrumental in the rewrite of this story and without him, I am sure that my chapters wouldn't be all that well written without him. With that said, be on a look out for chapter three this weekend and chapter four next week. Bye!**


	3. Mission

**Hello there my fans! I bring you the 3** **rd** **chapter in this rewrite! However, let me answer some of your questions or concerns. First; the pairing is going to be three women and those three are going to be the same ones from the old version of this story, so please do not ask me about adding someone. I know you all are trying to be help full, but it's already been decided. Secondly, you will find that some of the errors in the last two chapters to be fixed after this upload. Some of you have been throwing ideas and me and I like that, it helps be come up with a better story as it goes on. With that said, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Bye!**

 **Three Years Later**

"Patience, Naruto. You must let the Force flow through you. Only then can you achieve it." Plo Koon stated as an eleven-year-old Naruto sat cross-legged, his eyes shut as sweat slowly trickled down his forehead as he felt the majesty of the Force to fill up his being, taking all of it in that he could, and manipulating it to affect his surroundings. Plo Koon however watched from the sidelines as his student was in deep meditation.

 _"Hard to believe it has only been a little over three years. His progress is incredible!"_ Plo Koon thought while stroking his mask. Naruto was a very special child. He greatly preferred hands on learning to book studies. It was simply easier to demonstrate the lesson and the boy was usually able to soak it up like a sponge. With that in mind, Plo Koon had devised various methods to teach Naruto that he would be able to learn and learn he did.

The first thing the Jedi were to teach Naruto was Galactic Basic. While the tad bit Yoda had taught him in a month was good, it wouldn't do him good on a larger scale. With him learning basic, he could read the data pads presented to him, opening a wide field of studies for him to go through. He was interested in the origins of the alien Padawans, namely a certain blue Twi'lek, so he began studying cartography and history by personally visiting the various Masters from across the galaxy and reading up on their home planets.

During that time, he was also being instructed in the ways of the Force by Plo Koon. Starting with simple things such as sensing it, levitating objects, pushing, and pulling them between platforms, meditations, and so on. Thus, rapid advances allowed him to easily control his connection to the force. To Yoda, it was quite the shock to see Naruto master the force so easily, despite his claim that he had struggled so much in the Ninja academy.

 _"He was able to outrun even some of the most experienced Jedi Knights we have."_ Plo Koon thought. Naruto was tremendously quick and agile, to no one's surprise. After learning he was training to be a ninja, Battlemaster Cin Drallig quickly set Naruto on the path to master the Ataru form of lightsaber combat. Along with a solid foundation in Form V, Naruto could deliver broad, high energy attacks thanks to his maneuverability, and an effective, speedy counter offence. The only thing he lacked was power and defense, which Plo Koon thought would be ameliorated with age and a stronger body to properly perform the more physically demanding Form V techniques.

The one thing that threw the Jedi for a loop was the energy Naruto called Chakra. It was, from what he had explained, far more versatile compared to the Force. However, what surprised them was the fact that it was not only separate from the Force, but acted as an opposing Force entirely. The Jedi were unable to sense Chakra like they could the Force, which made it all the more difficult to understand. However, there was something odd that was discovered. The Midi-chlorians within him grew calm and docile when exposed to chakra, and were not as able to affect the Force as normally. The amount of Chakra Naruto produced further affected Naruto's Force powers. If he channeled too much Chakra, his Force powers were severely weakened. When he concentrated on using the Force, the opposite happened. His Chakra reserves would be severely limited, and his physicality would suffer. His normally nigh infinite stamina was brought down to levels that would be considered relatively normal for a Jedi Knight.

However, there was a catch. If Naruto left his Chakra untrained, and concentrated his power solely the Force, his Force powers would be radically unstable, and he had trouble lifting objects without launching them high into the sky. This attested to the power Yoda sensed within him, but as a Youngling with only handful of years experience, Naruto still had little control over his Force powers. With that in mind, Naruto used the handful of exercises he knew about Chakra control, such as balancing a leaf on his forehead by using only his Chakra, to begin the process of bringing both his chakra and Force abilities under control. He had to get creative to ensure that his Chakra control never faltered, least he risked hampering either his ability to use or control the Force.

"Urgh! Why can't I get it right?!" Naruto shouted out as he threw up his arms in frustration. He had been going at it for hours and yes there was still no sign of a result. Plo Koon hummed as he approached his student.

"Do not be deterred young one. The ability you are trying to learn is one rarely learned by even the most knowledgeable of Jedi. You must have patience with yourself, Naruto, as well as the Force." Plo Koon's words calmed Naruto, who nodded. Plo Koon was a very strict, but rather uncritical instructor. He was not concerned with his pupil's failures, only that he hadn't achieved success. He was greatly known for his Kel Dor sense of justice, one that was rigid and unbending. That sense of justice naturally inspired Naruto, willing to do whatever it takes to bring the scum of the galaxy to justice. He was also affected by Plo Koon's principles putting high value in the Jedi Code. Although Naruto didn't agree with many things, he was still willing to honor the code. At least until he could change it.

"I know, but how will I ever be a Grand Master if I can't even learn this!" Naruto questioned as Plo Koon stroked his mask.

"Have you not put any thought into why there is only one Grand Master in the entire order? Master Yoda is more than 800 years old. Far older than you, thus his experience and wisdom far outweighs yours, but even he was once a student. He didn't become a Grand Master in a few years. It took him decades. More decades than most humans can live for. The point is, the road to achieving your goals is never easy, after all, that is why they are called goals." His instructor answered as Naruto nodded again more slowly this time, understanding a tad bit of what Plo Koon was saying.

"Come now, the council would like to speak with us soon." Plo Koon said as he stood up and started to head for the door. Naruto raised an eyebrow. What could the council want with them now?

"Oh no, this isn't about that prank, was it? I didn't mean to turn _your_ robes lime green, Master Plo, I swear!" He didn't waste any time and let to his feet following his master out of the room. The walk itself was slowly and quite as they took their time. It wasn't long before they arrived at the doors to the chamber, and waiting there was Obi Wan Kenobi and his Master Qui-Gon Jinn. Naruto smirked as he spotted Kenobi.

"Hey! Kenobi, what are you doing here?" Naruto questioned as the twenty-something Padawan looked down at Naruto. He merely smiled and shrugged.

"I'm not sure myself. All Master Qui-Gon said was that the council requested our presence." Kenobi answered while stroking his chin. "He said it very seriously, too. Like he was a sergeant giving orders to his troops." While the two talked, the Jedi Masters bowed to each other as the waited for the door to open.

"I suppose you know why the council called for us?" Plo Koon questioned as Qui-Gon hummed.

"I have an idea, though I am not sure." The Master answered as Plo Koon thought over that answer. The doors to the chamber opened, allowing the group of four to enter. The group walked to the center of the chamber, while the council members sat in their chairs.

"Here you are, good." Yoda stated as he smiled at the group. The group of four bowed slightly as Mace Windu chose to take the floor.

"Sorry that we cannot dispense with more pleasantries, but this matter is urgent. Mandalore has been going through a civil war for quite some time now. Insurgents have invaded their ranks in a bid to take power and to reestablish the Mandalore of old, or at least a more militaristic Mandalore. This has thrown the whole system into chaos as the leader of the New Mandalore faction, Duchess Satine Kryze, along with most of her leadership has been forced into hiding." Windu started out as many of the members whispered amongst one another.

"And why is that a concern of ours?" Obi-Wan spoke up, questioning the council as many Masters shared glances.

"Some five thousand years ago, the Mandalorian clans once grew so powerful that they once rivaled the Republic, and were all too eager to prove it in combat. These Mandalorian crusaders were bloodthirsty enough that the entire galaxy was engulfed in war. Such a Mandalore can never again be allowed." Master Fisto answered as the nature of this meeting dawned on them.

"They would once more be a threat to the Jedi, the Republic, and peace itself within the greater galaxy." Master Adi Gallia continued. "The Mandalorians are by their very nature a war-like people, and every Jedi should know of the ancient Mandalorian crusaders that sought to test their mettle against us. Should Mandalore be allowed to revitalize its military, then they would become a powerful force within the galaxy, one that would be all too eager to expand beyond its current borders." The Mandalorian Wars were a topic often considered to be better left unsaid. They were a very dark chapter in galactic history that lead to the deaths of many Jedi, as well as many Republic soldiers and Mandalorian clans.

 _"Yes! My first mission! I can already taste it!"_ Naruto thought as he was lost on the proceedings.

"So, what are we to do?" Master Plo Koon scanned the faces of the Masters on the council. He could tell some were against it, others were in favor. Naruto was jumping in his mind, his face beaming with excitement.

"It would be in our best interest that the New Mandalore faction comes out on top. Their ideology is centered around pacifism, very different from the traditional Mandalorian way of life." Windu finished as the Jedi council debated about the involvement of the Order into politics.

"I agree with Master Windu. A militaristic Mandalore would be dangerous at best, and warmongering at its worst. Either of these futures is one we should aim to prevent." Qui-Gon Jinn threw in his opinion on the matter. Yoda meanwhile observed the group of four, though most of his attention was on Naruto.

"So, we're to aid the Duchess' faction like the Jedi are common mercenaries?" Master Rancisis raised his voice in opposition to the plan.

"No, we cannot get involved directly. This is an internal matter between Mandalorians. Any aggressive action against them would be construed as war, and it could potentially endanger the lives of other Jedi out on missions. They would be unsuspecting and the consequences could be fatal. Master Windu has thought of a plan to avoid any direct confrontation. We are only protecting the Duchess, not fighting for her." Master Mundi shut down the protest of Master Rancisis.

"Go to Mandalore to protect the Duchess, Master Qui-Gon and Plo Koon will. A danger too great to ignore, this is. They must go. Along with their Padawan's." Yoda finally spoke up as many raised an eyebrow.

"Master Yoda, forgive me, but Master Plo Koon does not currently have a Padawan" Jedi Master Even Piell pointed out as everyone nodded. Yoda however gave him a confused look.

"No Padawan, you say? Hmm? Sure about this, are you?" Yoda answered as many leaned in to hear what he had to say, so did Naruto, wondering who Plo Koons Padawan was, though Plo Koon himself knew who Yoda was talking about. Yoda chuckled as he pointed his cane at Naruto.

"Your Padawan, he is. No?" Yoda questioned Master Plo Koon as everyone blinked and looked at Naruto and back to Plo Koon, who's masked expressions didn't help much. Naruto himself blinked.

"I understand why Kenobi would be chosen to go, but why Naruto? He is still far too young and inexperienced to be a Padawan learner. Much less go out on dangerous mission such as this one." Mace Windu questioned as Naruto rolled his eyes. Why did Windu had to be an ass to him every time something good happened to him?

"Naruto has advanced faster than any Jedi Youngling ever has. I have long believed he is ready to be a Padawan, and if Master Yoda does so too, then I shall formally take him up as my Padawan." Plo Koon stated. It seemed that Yoda agreed. Plo Koon would take Naruto as his official Padawan. Naruto suddenly jumped with glee.

"Alright! My master's totally kick ass!" Naruto blurted out as he realized what he had said and blushed in embarrassment. Some of the council still frowned at this behavior, but most have learned to merely laugh at his remarks.

"Strong with the Force, young Naruto is, but little experience outside the temple has he. Learn he will, about the galaxy. And about the Force. An opportunity, we should see this as." Yoda stated. Though he really hoped that through this experience that Naruto would be humbled, then again, he was an orphan, he was far more mature than most children. Still, he hoped that some of the more aggressive tendencies within Naruto would be tamed during this experience. Master Windu nodded in reluctant agreement.

"If that is all, then I must make ready for the trip." Qui-Gon stated as he bowed and left, his Padawan in tow. Plo Koon and Naruto followed them as the group split, heading to their own rooms to gather what they needed.

 **Jedi Temple Hangar**

"Hey, Naruto! _Naruto!_ Where are you going?" Naruto glanced around the hanger to try and find who was calling him, before turning around and smiled as he saw a young woman and his most favorite person in the whole temple running up to meet him.

"Hey there sis! I'm heading to my ship right now." Naruto answered as Siri walked up to him. Over the three years, the two had gotten close, closer than what the Jedi Code would allow. However, Naruto didn't care about some of the more annoying rules the Order had. He was broken out of his thoughts as Siri ruffled his hair as Naruto pouted and tried to swat her hand away.

"Stop that!" Naruto whined as she chuckled and retracted her hand and began to walk with him through the hanger, with Naruto pouting and giving her the silent treatment.

"Oh, come on. Don't give me that silent treatment. You deserved that much after you pranked me last week." She said as Naruto grinned at that.

"You should have seen the look on your face! You were so embarrassed when your hair matched the color of your lightsaber!" Naruto stated with a laugh as she furled her brow and grabbed him in a headlock. Remembering all too well the violet color that took several days to fully wash out of her golden locks.

"Careful there little brother, you don't want your big sister's wrath coming down on you." She countered with a sweet smile as Naruto stopped and gulped as he shockingly brought up his hand and pointed it back at her.

"Y-You wouldn't! It's not the Jedi way!" Naruto stated, scared at what she would do. All she did was smirk.

"You underestimate my resolve?" She questioned as she brought a fist to his crown and began grinding it into his head. Naruto protested loudly to make her stop. She soon released him bringing her hand in front of her giggling mouth as Naruto smiled. Her laughter was like music to his ears. He blushed as he shook his head to clear his thoughts. Naruto finally spotted the light transport that would be taking them to the outer rim. It was your typical Consular-class space cruiser. Nothing fancy.

"So, where are you heading?" She questioned as the two walked up to transport.

"Mandalore." He answered as Siri frowned at that.

"You can't go there! There's a civil war going on!" She petitioned. Naruto shook his head as the two stopped at the ramp just in time to see Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan board the ship. Of course, she knew what was going on, she was Master Gallia's Padawan after all.

"Yeah, that's why we are going. We have to go protect this lady." He answered, making her more concerned. She wanted more than anything to go in his place. She was twenty, Naruto was still just a child. Why was the council already sending him into a war zone? She kneeled and got down to his eye level. She placed both her hands on his shoulders.

"Naruto…make sure you stay out of trouble, okay?" She requested with concern in her voice. Naruto gave her a grin with his eyes closed.

"What do you mean stay out of trouble?" He questioned as he tilted his head slightly as Siri smiled at his antics.

"You're right, what am I saying? Trouble finds you." She said with a giggle as she kissed his forehead. She stood back up and smirked at the blushing Naruto.

"Naruto, it's time." Plo Koon stuck his head out to call his new Padawan inside.

"Just be careful, ok? And try not to get into any arguments with Obi-Wan!" She said as Naruto held up his hand in acknowledgement and jogged up the boarding ramp into the ship. The ship's ramp closed and it slowly started to levitate before it turned around and shot out of the hanger. Siri sighed and looked at the retreating ship.

"May the Force be with you…" She muttered as she kept her gaze at the retreating vessel, before it was far out of her sight. Turning around, she began heading towards the training fields, she had to meet with Master Gallia soon.

 **Mandalore**

It was only a day before the transport ship exited out of hyperspace, with Mandalore in their sights. The group of four Jedi readied themselves as the ship approached the Moon of Mandalore, Concordia. The Duchess and her family had retreated to the moon after they were attacked at the Capitol. It seemed that not even the grand palace was safe from the insurgents.

"You ready?" Naruto looked to Obi-Wan who nodded.

"Yes, but are you?" He snarked back as Naruto gave him a fox like smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean? I was born ready." He said with conviction as Kenobi rolled his eyes. The two followed their Masters down the ramp, their cloaks hiding their appearances.

"This is a warzone, not a picnic. I don't know what Master Yoda was thinking sending a child." Obi-Wan said as Naruto frowned at that statement.

"I'm a Padawan like you. Not a child." Naruto shot back as Obi-Wan shook his head.

"You have only recently become a Padawan, too recently. Just stay behind me and you'll be fine." he said as Naruto resisted the urge to growl. After three years of training with his Master, he had learned to better control his emotions, well, at least his more reckless and violent ones. He was still carefree and the laughable fool.

"Says the Padawan who was sent to the Agri-Corps to help cultivate crops." Naruto said with a snicker as Obi-Wan sighed in defeat. That was one chapter of his life that he would not want to remember. Being sent to the Agri-Corps was the worst thing for a Youngling who wanted to become a Jedi. Who wanted to spend their life growing crops? Not him. As the two Padawan's bickered with each other, the two Masters were having talks of their own.

"I'm not entirely sure how I feel about your new Padawan being here." Qui-Gon spoke as Plo Koon frowned behind his mask. For some reason, Qui-Gon was one Jedi who didn't like Naruto for some reason, he merely tolerated him.

"Naruto has proven himself to be worthy. Out of all the younglings, he has advanced the furthest and the fastest. At a young age, too. Frankly, it is your Padawan I am worried about. After all, he was sent to help grow crops." Plo Koon said calmly, unknowingly teasing Qui-Gon's Padawan the same way Naruto just had. The human Jedi Master kept walking.

"Obi-Wan is different. He is strong and experienced. I've no doubt he's almost ready for the trials. In time will be just as wise as us. He will make a great Jedi Master one day. Your Padawan? I'm not so sure." Qui-Gon replied as Plo Koon shook his head.

"Naruto might be impulsive and act with his emotions sometimes, but his sense of justice is even stronger than mine. He will not sit back and watch as people are hurt by those who abuse their power. He is an unorthodox Jedi, but being unorthodox shouldn't be that unfamiliar to you, Master Qui-Gon. You're infamous for disobeying the council." Plo Koon stated as the two stopped as they arrived at a forest opening.

"They're here." Qui-Gon whispered as the group of four waited. From the opposite side, a few men and women emerged, they were armed with various blasters, with a few wearing uniforms. The apparent officer of the group walked past the group and stood in-front of the Jedi.

"Did the Order send you?" He questioned as Plo Koon nodded.

"Yes, the Order is willing to help you, but we are only here to protect the Duchess, not take part in this civil war." Plo Koon answered. The officer nodded and gestured them to follow.

"I'm Mikehl Sunn, Defense Minister of Mandalore and a key advisor to the Duchess, Satine. Please follow me, the Duchess awaits your arrival." Sunn said as he turned around and began to walk, with the group of Jedi following the group. They walked for what seemed to be hours, before they finally reached a base of sorts. It was guarded by very extravagantly armored royal guards that had come with the Duchess and her family.

"Duchess, the Jedi have arrived." Sunn bowed as he moved to the side to introduce the Jedi to his leader. Qui-Gon stepped forward, pulling his hood down.

"Greetings, I am Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and this is my Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi." Qui-Gon introduced himself and his Padawan, who pulled his hood down as well. Obi-Wan blushed slightly as he looked at the beauty in front of him. She was a young woman, maybe a few years younger than him.

"And I am Master Plo-Koon and this is Naruto Uzumaki, my Padawan." Plo Koon introduced himself as Naruto stepped forward, pulling his hood down, his blond spikey hair sprang up in attention, finally being released by hood of his cloak. He studied the Duchess, before his sight turned to the red-haired preteen girl, next to the Duchess. She looked around his age, but she was definitely taller than him. Her green eyes met his blue ones before he quickly turned to look back at the Duchess.

 _"That must be the Duchess's kid sister."_ Naruto thought as he noticed the Duchess gaze lowered to cast a frown at him.

"A child? When did the Jedi start sending children into war?" She questioned Qui-Gon as Naruto frowned at her statement. Before he could say anything, Plo Koon discreetly stopped him.

"With all due respect Duchess, it was the Grand Master who picked the Jedi here to protect you. He wouldn't have picked my Padawan if he wasn't up for the task." Plo Koon shot back at her, with finality in his voice. He was tired to people questioning if Naruto was up for the task. If he could escape from Jedi Knights, then he was ready in Plo Koon's eyes. If the worst were to happen, he was confident Naruto could get away. The Duchess' frown deepened. She opened her mouth to say something before the base shook.

"What's going on!?" She questioned as she sat up, with dust falling all over the room. A few guards came running in.

"Duchess, we are under attack! They must have tracked the Jedi to our locatio- AHH!" The guard captain shouted, bringing the attention of the Jedi to him, but he fell to the ground dead as a blaster bolt hit him in the back. Mandalorians clad in armor and bounty hunters wearing all different manner of uniforms stormed the base's entry hall.

"Is the situation here really this chaotic?!" Plo Koon cursed their luck.

"Obi-Wan, take Naruto and get out of here! Protect the Duchess and her family! Go! Now!" Qui-Gon ordered.

"For House Kryze!" The guards shouted out as the Jedi Masters ignited their lightsabers, jumping in-front of the Duchess, deflecting blaster fire back at the rebel faction. Naruto and Obi-Wan meanwhile escorted the Duchess and her family out into the underground portion of the base.

"This way!" One of the guards yelled as Naruto and Obi-Wan followed the guards, but as they were about to around the corner, blaster fire rained down and struck two of the guard's dead. Obi-Wan ignited his lightsaber, jumping in-front of the Duchess, protecting her as he deflected the blaster fire. Naruto saw that Obi-Wan had the blocked path forward handled. However, more Mandalorian rebels stormed down the hallway from behind them, having rushed past their Masters. They aimed their blasters at the Duchess and her younger sister. The two girls looked terrified as the blasters aimed at them. Satine rushed to shield her little sister with her own body before a snap-hiss was heard behind them.

"Get down!" She heard as a small figure jumped over her, a blue lightsaber in his hand spinning wildly, deflecting the blaster fire as he charged forward. The defectors started to focus their fire at Naruto, who shifted into Form V and began dodging and deflecting the incoming blaster fire. His defense slowly began to fail, so Naruto decided to go on the attack instead, bursting into a crazed rush of Force-enhanced speed. As Naruto quickly approached his first opponent, he ducked down and rolled forward with a slash, but his opponent managed to take a quick step back, only getting cut superficially across the chest. He quickly stood up after realizing he was uninjured and resumed his attack. In these cramped hallways, Form IV was no good. Naruto's thoughts grew strained as he began to fall back. He shouted for Obi-Wan to follow as he grabbed the Duchess' by the arm and yanked her. Leading her and her little sister down a side hall.

"A-Are you ok?" The red-haired girl questioned with a worried look as Naruto turned to her and gave her a bright smile.

"Don't worry your pretty little head over me! My job is to protect you." Naruto responded with that stupid grin of his. Obi-Wan had briefly deflected blaster fire from both sides as he quickly stepped into the side hall and began chasing after Naruto. The redhead was knocked out of her thoughts as Naruto grabbed her hand and began to lead her down the hall, following the rest of the group. As more insurgents arrived, they began to fire at the retreating group. Naruto grit his teeth as he turned his attention behind him and began to concentrate on limiting his Chakra reserves. Obi-Wan, sensing his intentions, did his best to overtake Naruto, who threw out a powerful wave of Force energy with his hand. The powerful push of Force energy threw them off their feet, sending them flying back into the first hall, knocking a handful of them unconscious.

"Ha! Serves ya right!" Naruto yelled as he tightened his grip on the Duchess' sister and began to pull her again down the hall. They exited the base as various starfighters flew over ahead, locked in combat. A loyalist gunship broke through and landed near the open courtyard. A crewman opened the door and began using the side turret to fire on enemy starfighters.

"Get the Duchess on-board now!" One of the crew members yelled as Obi-Wan led the women to the transport, Naruto, and the girl in his hand following close. Qui-Gon and Plo Koon soon emerged from the ruined base through an alternate route with Mikehl Sunn and some Mandalorian guards. As they exited, Obi-Wan extend his hand out and jerked it back, causing the exit to collapse, trapping the troops chasing them inside the base.

"That should hold them off, nice work Kenobi. Now let's get going!" Naruto yelled as he boarded the gun ship, still holding the redheads hand. As everyone boarded the gunship, it began to take off with fighter support. Inside the gunship, the two Padawan's let out a deep sigh.

"Y-You can let go of my hand now." The redhead blushed as Naruto blinked and looked down before letting go.

"O-Oh, sorry…" He responded nervously as he let go of her hand. The girl brought her hand up to her chest and took hold of it with her other hand. Blushing, but also smiling.

 _"Maybe this won't be so bad…"_ She thought as she glanced at the blond next to him, a silly smile on his face. Her face heated up as she turned away. Perhaps something good could come out of this. Either way, the days to come would forever be in the memory of Bo-Katan Kryze.

 **So? How was it? Good? Bad? Leave a review! Before I leave, I have one to say to those who are saying that Naruto is weak, dumb, stupid in this fic. First off, Naruto will be powerful, but I won't just hand him it to him. What I have come to find is that people tend to just like action fic's. They want to see battle after battle were the main character just destroys the enemy without any mistakes what so ever. THIS IS NOT DRAGON BALL. Naruto will get smarter, he will become stronger, but he will work for it, you know, how the real Naruto did? With that rant over, I would like to thank my Beta reader for this story once more. Bye!**


	4. Civil War

**Welcome all! How are you all doing? Good I hope! As you all know, this is Chapter 4! You all have been leaving some good reviews that point out the few mistakes in the last chapters and as such, I have released fixed chapters, Chapter 3 is getting a fix as well after this chapter is uploaded! Also, I would like to thank my Beta Reader for this story, he does a fantastic job at this and it's thanks to him that the fixes are implemented. With that said, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Bye!**

 **Keldabe, Mandalore**

Naruto sighed as the gunship slowly began to descend, another hideout. It had been months - eleven long, arduous months, they have been on the run from both the insurgents and the dozens of Bounty hunters they had hired to assassinate the Duchess. Just a few days ago they had to abandon more of their comrades and relocate yet another base. The gunship slowly landed as the doors slid open, allowing the loyalist foot soldiers to disembark first. They were to make sure that the surroundings were clear first before the Duchess emerged from the craft.

"All clear." The captain said as the rest of the occupants disembarked, with the Jedi closely guarding the Duchess and other high value targets.

"The last few days have been rather entertaining, wouldn't you agree?" Obi-Wan questioned as Naruto shrugged.

"If being shot at by an army of angry Mandos is your idea of fun, then you must have a very strange definition of entertaining. Are you Masochist, Kenobi-senpai?" Naruto shot a grin as he let a bit of his native tongue slip into his inquiry with his newfound 'older brother'.

"I was talking about you, rather. I think I finally know why Master Yoda wanted you to come along with us so badly, better yet, why he allowed you to suddenly become a Padawan after only a few years of training, 'kouhai'. I was an initiate for quite some time before I was chosen as Qui-Gon's Padawan." Obi-Wan responded to his junior with snark and respect for his skills, though he would not dare voice his opinion was anyone else present. Both of them knew that Kenobi was far better simply because he had so much more experience than Naruto. They were a little over ten years apart in age, but Obi-Wan had started his Jedi training from the proper age. All in all, this amount to roughly a fifteen year gap in experience, although at times it felt much smaller to the older Padawan.

"It was because I'm awesome!" Naruto responded as Obi-Wan sighed. He couldn't really argue anymore. Naruto had proven himself very capable over the past year and he continued to improve month after month. Obi-Wan had begun to step up his training. He was no longer sure the gap between them would last too much longer. Experience could only get you so far, after all. You needed to have talent and skill as well.

Naruto had noticed that Kenobi's advantage in their sparring matches had begun to wane as Naruto adopted the Form IV techniques from his brother-rival as well as his Master, into his own bladework. It didn't hurt that Naruto was being mentored by one of the best Jedi warriors in the order. Naruto's skill in Form V Shien had become very polished. The lessons of Plo Koon were better conveyed when facing off against real opponents with real blasters, rather than programmed training remotes.

As the two walked in contemplation of each other's improving skills, the gaze of one Bo-Katan Kryze was fixed at Naruto. He was…unique. He was nothing like the Jedi, at least from what her sister had told her about Jedi's.

"Bo, is everything ok?" She was broken out of her thoughts by Satine. She looked away, her eyes darting to fixate on anything. Anywhere but towards the object of her affections.

"Y-Yes." She responded as Satine raised an eyebrow and followed the gaze of her kid sister to Naruto. She frowned slightly. Turing to Bo, she rested one of her hands on her shoulders.

"Bo, you know what I told you about Jedi and relationships…" She stated as Bo looked down sadly before she shook her head in denial.

"He's not like the other Jedi's. He's brave, considerate, funny, and so much more." Bo countered as she blushed once more at her thoughts. Satine sighed as she looked at her kid sister.

"I will not allow you to pursue a relationship with a Jedi. Not only that, but you are too young." Satine stated with finality as Bo slightly growled at her sister's declaration. She turned to her elder sister and shot her a fierce glare.

"Aren't you the hypocrite. Don't think that I don't know about your late-night rendezvous with the other Padawan." Bo shot back as Satine almost fell, a blush covering her face.

"T-That's different!" Satine answered in a hushed voice. Bo rolled her eyes, clearly it was not.

"Only different because you're sleeping with him..." Bo fought back as Satine's eyes widened with a scoff as she turned away from her sister.

"It's different because I'm not interested in him romantically. And we haven't done that in a while. It's only a little casual fun and that's all it can ever be with these Jedi types, too obsessed about their code, and selflessness, and detachment from the world. Ah, I shouldn't even be talking to you about this stuff, you and Naruto are both only twelve!" Satine answered her sister with a twinge of scorn in her voice. However, Bo-Katan was unable to talk back any further, including mentioning that she was in fact thirteen, as the group stopped in front of an entrance that lead to a hidden base.

"You first, my lady." Obi-Wan gestured with his hand as the Duchess smiled and nodded and walked in, her royal guards following her with Bo in toe. The two Jedi Masters however were talking amongst themselves.

"You've done a great job training Naruto, he truly is a phenomenal padawan. At first I wasn't so sure he was ready. But observing his last duel with Obi-Wan, I suspect he's every bit as capable as a Padawan his age should be. Even more so when it comes to his saber skills. Your warrior traits seemed to have rubbed off on him substantially."

"I knew you would come around eventually, but sadly, I'm not so sure I feel the same." Plo Koon said with concern.

"What do you mean?" Qui-Gon addressed his doubts head on.

"He seemed to have being enjoying the last fight. Perhaps Master Windu was right. He and his Vaapad Form might have been the best fit for Naruto. When we return to Coruscant, I was thinking he should study under him for a while." Plo Koon suggested as Qui-Gon hummed in consideration as the two stood guard at the bases entrance, while their Padawan's went inside to stand guard.

"I disagree. I think learning Vaapad would be more dangerous than therapeutic. Naruto has definitely improve his restraint over the past year, but learning something like that... I'm not so sure even Master Windu could set him on the right path after being exposed to all that emotion. Naruto has proven himself repeatedly during his time here on Mandalore and he has been invaluable to this mission. His martial skills are impeccable. Truthfully, he's gotten better with Form IV than even you are. I don't think there's much left that you can teach him in that regard. Instead of learning with Master Windu, let him study under me instead. It is my specialty after all." Qui-Gon proposed as Plo-Koon nodded in understanding.

"I've noticed a change in Obi-Wan as well. He's become much less arrogant, and his desire to improve so quickly is a cause for concern of mine." Qui-Gon continued as Plo Koon frowned. Well, as much as one could with his or her mouth covered by a mask.

"So, you don't know about the fact that your Padawan has been meeting _after hours_ with the woman we are here to protect?" Plo Koon questioned as Qui-Gon's eyes widened at this new piece of information.

"What?" Qui-Gon responded with a chuckle. "...You can't be serious" Qui-Gon began to snicker. He couldn't imagine Obi-Wan, well-disciplined, and stuck up Obi-Wan, sleeping with the Duchess of Mandalore. If what Master Plo Koon was saying was true... Qui-Gon noticed his fellow master was looking him dead in the eye serious. Qui-Gon hid his face as he thought of the discussion about attachments he would have to have with his Padawan after the mission was over. He needed to make sure Obi-Wan held no lingering feelings for the Duchess.

"You must be a deep sleeper, then." Plo Koon responded as he turned around and began his patrol, leaving a very amused Qui-Gon deep in thought. While the two Jedi Masters were outside, Naruto and Obi-Wan were inside. Naruto was tinkering with his lightsaber, it was a generic blue-colored lightsaber given to all Jedi to train with. He would undoubtedly make his own Lightsaber after the mission, but he still wanted to customize this one's length a bit to adjust to his new height so he is tinkering with it like he did blasters, ships, and even droids.

"Isn't that dangerous?" He heard a voice, turning around he smiled as Bo came into his view. For some reason, he really enjoyed the few moments he spent with her.

"What? This? Nah! This isn't dangerous at all!" Naruto replied, but just then a few sparks escaped the lightsaber, causing Naruto to jump and drop the weapon. Bo let out an exasperated sigh and sweat-dropped at the boy's gaffe.

"Right…" She responded as Naruto chuckled nervously. The two stared at each other in silence before Bo turned her head away from him, a blush settling on her cheeks, unaware of how to express her feelings to a Jedi. Naruto meanwhile blinked his eyes in confusion.

"You alright?" Naruto questioned as she nodded her head furiously in response.

"I'm fine…Naruto…Why do people keep asking me that?" Bo-Katan pondered as Naruto raised an eyebrow. She sighed once more. He might be a Jedi, but that didn't mean he was exactly...bright.

"My sister told me that Jedi don't care about others, they never get attached with anyone." She elaborated as Naruto realized that she was talking about.

"Oh, yeah, most Jedi don't. Something to do with the Dark Side. Tenants, traditions, emotions, and stuff. But we definitely care about others." He answered casually. While Naruto might be powerful, he wasn't knowing to be book smart. All he knew that the Dark Side was bad and one should stay away from it.

"Are you one of those Jedi?" She asked. Naruto gave her an inquisitive look, needing further information. "I mean, are you one of the ones that don't follow to the Order's traditions?" She questioned as Naruto gave her a grin.

"Well, the Order says that emotions lead one to the Dark Side, I find that emotions make one stronger. It is the bonds we make that makes us stronger. I fight to protect those that I love. My friends, family, and you." He answered as a darker shade of red settled on her face.

"W-What does that mean?" She questioned as Naruto gave her a toothy smile.

"What does it mean? Well, you're someone precious to me!" Naruto proclaimed. That did it, Bo just about fainted at that, off into her daydreams about eloping with a blond Jedi Padawan. Some of the guards chuckled at the obliviousness of the blond, while Satine frowned incredulous at her sister's behavior.

"What's on your mind?" She was questioned by her not so secret lover. Turning around, she came face to face to Obi-Wan. The man was quite amused by her sister's dilemma.

"It's my sister, she is much too young to fall in love, with a Jedi no less." She stated as Obi-Wan frowned at that statement.

"Then what about us?" He whispered as she looked down, deep in her thoughts.

"Mandalore is going through a civil war…so many of my people have died. After this is over, Mandalore will need rebuilding. Someone has to lead them, to guide them." Satine started as Obi-Wan slowly nodded, she was the leader of the pacifist faction.

"That means I cannot be distracted by anything, not even by my feelings." She stated as Obi-Wan sighed sadly.

"So, that's it? All for your people I suppose. Funny how things work. Me, a Jedi, dared to love and loved I did. Then there's you, not bound by an order or its code, seeking to detach yourself from everything all for the sake of your people. I guess you would have made a better Jedi then me." Obi-Wan chuckled at the irony. Satine frowned at that, she wasn't going to abandon her feelings! But, she…Mandalore needed a leader!

"I'm sorry Obi-Wan…" She said sadly as she turned around, leaving the Padawan to his own thoughts. Different emotions going through his heart. Taking a deep breath, he sighed. He should have known better. He should have thrown caution when it came to love. While Obi-Wan was going through his mini depression, Naruto was trying to arise Bo from her daydreams.

"Hello! Mandalore to Bo!" He waved his hand in-front of her as she snapped back into reality, she came face to face with the blond that had been in her mind for quite some time and she immediately went daydreaming again. Naruto's face was wrought with worry and confusion. Was she sick or something?!

 **A Few Hours Later**

Night had come, covering the base in darkness. A few patrols were carrying out their duties, making sure the perimeter of the base was secure. Inside the base however, Defense Minister Mikehl Sunn was concocting a plan.

"The insurgents are holding a parade in Sundari, the Capital City. We must take this opportunity and destroy them all in one swift move." Sunn advised the Duchess, however she shook her head.

"No, there will be too many civilians there. I cannot sanction such an attack when so many innocents are present." Satine stated as Master Plo Koon hummed.

"There's also the possibility that this could be a trap to lure you out." Qui-Gon added as the rest of the Jedi's nodded. Sunn however shook his head.

"Even if it is a trap, we can end this war here and now! With all due respects Duchess, we need to attack! We can cause a diversion by attacking a different location and when the insurgents are distracted, we can launch the main attack. With the Jedi on our side, we can win this battle!" Sunn reaffirmed, but the two Master Jedi's frowned.

"We are here only to defend the Duchess, not to fight your war." Qui-Gon reminded him as Sunn suppressed a growl. So many of his comrades could have been saved if the Jedi had only fought in the battles. He quickly shook his head.

"Be that as it maybe, we need to strike! This war has gone on for long enough. Please reconsider Duchess. Too many of our people have already died. If we don't make a few sacrifices here, then many more will die as this war drags on." Sunn tried once more, this time playing on Satine's dislike of war and violence. Satine however was conducting her own battle. She had two options. One; to attack and end the war right here and now, but also cause some civilian casualties. Two; to not attack and let the war drag on, but that would mean more innocents would die anyways.

"We…we will fight, but I will be leading this assault." She stated as everyone's eyes widened, including the Jedi.

Mikehl Sunn had to strongly suppress his urge to grin.

"With all due respect, Duchess, we cannot allow you to place yourself in danger. If you are going to enter a battlefield, then we cannot protect you." Qui-Gon stated as Obi-Wan gritted his teeth. With this, Sunn had won a total victory. He quickly pounced on the loophole Qui-Gon had unwittingly created.

"But your orders are to protect the Duchess and her family. If she were to step onto a battlefield willingly, then you would have to defend her. I didn't know "protecting the Duchess" meant staying off the battlefield she's fighting on." Sunn responded, internally smirking. The two masters now realized the trap Sunn had set for them. Plo Koon sighed and shook his head, if Qui-Gon hadn't spoken up before him, he probably would've said the same thing.

"Our orders are to protect the Duchess…" Obi-Wan stated as both Qui-Gon and Plo Koon threw him a glance, they knew why he wanted what he wanted.

"This is not a good idea…" Qui-Gon was about to elaborate before Naruto interrupted him.

"Alright! Let's go teach those dumb Mandos a lesson!" Naruto shouted out. He was so eager to fight that he forgot the entire room was filled with Mandalorian guards who shot him insulted glares. "You know…the bad ones!" He recovered. Plo Koon sighed, this was one of Naruto's habit that would appear from time to time, the eagerness to fight.

"Calm yourself Padawan, a Jedi does not rush into a battle." Plo Koon taught Naruto, who reluctantly calmed himself.

"Sorry Master." Naruto apologized as Plo Koon nodded, accepting the apology knowing that Naruto had learned his lesson…somewhat.

"Then it's settled? We shall attack the day of the parade. A diversion team will attack at the rear of the parade. Once the insurgents are distracted, the main force led by the Duchess will attack the front, and center". Sunn stated as he pointed at the various locations on the map, he would set the teams up later. "And we'll try to keep the civilian casualties as low as possible." he added at the end to appease Satine.

"It's time to end this…once and for all" Satine muttered as she retreated to her chambers, wanting to be alone for a while. Everyone slowly filtered out of the room to prepare for battle. As Naruto walked out, Bo-Katan stopped him, having clearly been listening into the war room meeting.

"So…you're going to go out and fight?" She questioned. She was concerned about him, though he was quite the warrior even at his age, he was still inexperienced. Naruto shook his head as she raised an eyebrow at that.

"No, my job is to protect you." He replied.

"What do you mean?" She questioned. Naruto looked at her with a serious look.

"Your sister is going to go off and fight. Meaning Masters Plo Koon and Qui-Gon Jinn, and probably Obi-Wan too, will also be going along to protect her. I'm going to be left here to protect you. At least, that's what I think is gonna happen." Naruto explained as she blinked at his reasoning.

"Why's that?" She questioned as Naruto hummed.

"Well, the coming battle is gonna be huge. There will be some of the most battle-hardened warriors in the galaxy involved. My Master will probably assign me to protect you instead of fighting in the battle. It would just be safer for me and you." Naruto explained as his hand held his head. All this thinking was hurting his head. With all the doom and gloom, he wasn't exactly his chipper self these days. He was still the same boy as before, but she'd noticed when the situation was serious, he'd follow suit.

 _"Hopefully, this will all end soon…"_ He thought, however, the ending would certainly be bittersweet for him. On one hand, he would have helped ending a civil war, but on the other he knew that he might never see Bo again. She was his first friend outside of the order.

 _"I will protect you, no matter what it takes."_ He thought as he tightened his hands into fists. Come hell or high water, he would cut down anyone that would dare harm one of his closest friends.

 **Days Later**

As he had predicted, Naruto was left behind to ensure that no harm befell on Bo-Katan. He didn't mind it, just meant more time to spend with her.

"And then, I was like 'swish, swish' and then the Bounty hunter was like 'pew, pew, boom!' you had to see it to believe it!" Naruto said as Bo giggled as Naruto made a fool of himself. Currently, Naruto was telling her of some battles he had have with Bounty hunters during the past months. The base was mostly empty, save for a few guards and Naruto present to defend Bo.

"Naruto, tell me. What is your dream?" She questioned him as Naruto sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"My dream? Well… I had a dream before I was inducted into the order." Naruto answered as she looked at him, wondering what his first dream was. Seeing this, Naruto grinned.

"My first dream was to be Hokage." He answered as she blinked at the odd sounding word, before a thoughtful look fell on her face.

"Hokage? Strange... that word sounds similar to a word in ancient Mando'a... Hoka'gam, if I'm not mistaken. It translates to 'Fire Shield', or 'Fire Guardian'." She commented as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Did you say Fire Guardian? The Hokage was the protector of the village, on my world it meant 'Fire Shadow'. But, I'm from - What's all this about Ancient Mando'a?" He questioned as she nodded.

"Mandalore, its people, and our language are much older than people think. At many points in the galactic history, Mandalore was a sizable Empire, strung together by the many clans under one leader, Mand'alor, who could conquer and enslave entire worlds with a single swipe of his vibroblade. At its peak, the Empire even reached into the unknown regions of the galaxy. However, after incessant war with the Republic, as well as help from several of the Jedi, the Empire began to crumble after the death of Mand'alor the Ultimate at the hands of a Jedi General named Revan." Bo trailed off, thinking of the glory days of Mandalore. These insurgents wouldn't have ever dared to challenge her sister if she was as strong as their last emperor.

"Mandalore...the Ultimate...?" Naruto marveled at quite possibly the coolest name he had ever heard in his life. "So, was the planet named after him?" He wondered if the guy was even cooler by having the entire planet, system, and sector named after him.

"Mand'alor is a title, it literally just translates to 'leader'. The title is given to the leader of our people. Each Mand'alor is also given a title that best represents their accomplishments, sometimes posthumously. One Mand'alor was known as 'the Conqueror'. He expanded the Empire more than all the previous Mand'alors combined. Then there was 'Mand'alor the Unworthy' who was a incompetent fool that couldn't lead a party planning committee. 'Mand'alor the Indomitable' who served in the Great Sith Wars nearly four thousand years ago. But even he was ultimately bested by 'Mand'alor the Ultimate', the last and greatest Mand'alor that there ever will be." Bo explained to Naruto, who scratched his head in confusion, but he seemed to understand it at the end.

"After his death, a new self-proclaimed Mand'alor showed up and begin a 'grand crusade to bring back the glory of old Mandalore'. The war of expansion would last about year or two before someone came along thinking they would be a better leader, and so the clans fell to infighting and after about a decade the winner would come forth as the new Mand'alor, before someone came along thinking - you get the picture. In the end, the Mandalorian Empire came to its final collapse about three and a half thousand years ago. The many clans that once held it together scattered throughout the galaxy after it the Republic delivered the final below to the declining Empire." She explained as Naruto was intrigued by the history lesson, could it be possible that his home world was once under the rule of this Mandalorian Empire?

"I see…" He said as he filed this off for later. He might do some research after he gets back to the temple. If the Mandalorian Empire reached into the unknown regions, was it possible that he - no, _**everyone**_ from his home planet had descended from Mandalorian Crusaders? "Hey, do you know about something called chakra?"

"Chakra? That's an ancient Mando'an word exactly like that. Chak'ra means 'inner strength'. Why, does it mean anything?" She asked.

"Nah. It's nothing." He waved off. They definitely knew at least something about chakra, but it didn't seem like they could use it. Otherwise, the war they had fought over the past year would have been a lot more chaotic.

"So, what's your new dream?" She questioned as Naruto gave her that stupid grin of his.

"I'm gonna be a Grand Master of the Jedi Order one day" Naruto answered, slightly thankful that his verbal tic didn't rear its ugly head.

"Well, I am sure that you will make it as one." She supported him as Naruto looked at her with wide eyes.

"R-Really? You really believe me?" He questioned as she gave him a confused look before nodding. In that moment, Naruto stretched out his fist, beckoning her to do the same. She was going to ask something, but before their fists could collide the sound of blaster fire echoed through the hallways.

"It's those rebels!" One of the guards yelled, but he was cut down by blaster fire. Naruto quickly brought Bo behind her and ignited his saber as four Mandalorians entered the room. It seemed like they had attacked at the most fortunate of times.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? One Jedi brat and that sorry excuse of a Mandalorians sister." One of the insurgents spoke. He wore Mandalorian style armor that was very traditional. Naruto gripped his saber tightly and shifted into his Form V stance.

 _"Dammit, I really need to train with a new form, all my current ones are useless in confined spaces."_ Naruto thought. While he had gained some experience with combat, it wasn't enough to make him a pure master at it.

"Back off, you bastard!" Naruto yelled at the insurgents. The insurgents chuckled before they leveled their blaster fire. At that moment, Naruto threw some smoke bombs, blinding the room in white smoke.

"Dammit! Use your infra-scanners!" One of the female insurgents yelled as they all activated their scanners, only to find the Jedi and their target running through the halls.

"After them!" She yelled as they ran out into the hall, only to be thrown back by some unknown force. This bought valuable time for Naruto to lead Bo out of the base. Stopping just outside the entrance, Naruto turned to her.

"Bo, I want you to hide behind that rubble over there." He instructed her, but she just stood there and looked at him in fear.

"B-But what about you?" She questioned, fearing for what the blond was going to do next.

"I have to go to fight them. We can't outrun them forever." He answered as Bo looked at him defiantly, clutching her hands into a fist. The truth was, Naruto could outrun them, she couldn't. She was slowing him down.

 _"I-I don't want to be weak…"_ She thought, but was broken out of her thoughts as she heard blaster fire. Looking up, she saw Naruto deflecting multiple blaster bolts.

"Run Bo!" Naruto instructed her, but she was frozen at her spot.

"No! I'm not going to leave you!" She yelled back as Naruto kept blocking the blaster fire.

"Now isn't the time for this! Go, I'll be fine!" Naruto shouted back, urging her to go. Bo gritted her teeth, she wanted to help, but it was becoming clear that with her being present here, Naruto couldn't go on the offensive. With that thought in her head, she turned around and ran for it. Naruto looked back, relieved to see her retreating figure. Nodding to himself, he quickly went on the offensive, charging right at the insurgents, dodging their blaster fire with Form IV, or deflecting it with Form V.

"Come on! He's just one kid!" One of the assassins shouted out as they kept on firing. As Naruto approached the first insurgent, he crouched down and shot forward, his lightsaber in his hand making a cutting motion.

"Gah!" The insurgent yelled as the lightsaber cut straight through his armor and through his gut. He fell dead on the ground, his seared entrails spilling out. Keeping up the momentum, Naruto quickly back peddled, dodging a vibroblade. Extending his hand out, he threw the insurgent into a collision course with a nearby building, causing a few of the said Mandalorians bones to break.

"D-Damn, he's pretty g-good for a brat." The man coughed out, blood leaking through his mouth as he removed his helmet and tried to stand up, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a silhouette hiding behind a collapsed building and smirked.

Naruto continued his offensive, charging at the two remaining insurgents. His movements were becoming increasingly faster and deadlier as they dodged his wild attacks. They were beginning to tire, having to put everything they had into simply evading the swing of his lightsaber. If something didn't change in the next few minutes, they would certainly

"Hold it _right there_." They all heard a voice filled with venom. Turing around, Naruto's eyes widened. Standing by the edge of the ruined building, was the injured Mandalorian, holding Bo-Katan at gunpoint. Naruto gripped his lightsaber as the insurgent pressed his blaster to her head.

"Move, I _**dare**_ you." The insurgent challenged him as Naruto growled, before he was knocked down by the two insurgents behind him.

"About time, for a moment there I thought we were done for." The Female insurgent grunted as she kept Naruto down. The one holding Bo hostage shrugged his head. Bo however was a crying mess.

"I-I - S-s-sorry Naruto…" She cried out as Naruto struggled to get free.

"Don't worry Bo! I'll save you!" He shouted out as the insurgents chuckled at his words.

"Save her? Boy, you can't even save yourself." The one hold Bo hostage chuckled out as he tightened his grip on Bo, causing her to cry out in pain as she felt her wrist being crushed. Naruto growled, but this time it sounded more animalistic.

"You let go of her, you bastard!" Naruto shouted as the man chuckled before knocked Bo out with the butt of his blaster, her unconscious body slumping to the ground.

"Or what?" He questioned as he stared at Naruto. The Mandalorian female on top of Naruto stabbed her vibro knife into his back.

"That ought to teach y– what the hell?" Naruto didn't even react to the pain. Everything had just changed for him. His bangs covered his eyes as he fell quiet. The female insurgent yelled as jumped off Naruto's back. She obviously hadn't killed him, but she felt strange heat emanating from the boy. The three Mandalorians looked at Naruto with caution.

"You _hurt_ her…" They heard the Jedi in-training spit out his words with disgust. He looked up at the insurgent that held Bo. His blue eyes had run red. The man's face contorted into an inquisitive grimace as he took a step back and readied his blaster. Those eyes…they were filled with so much anger he could feel it.

"You hurt _**her!**_ "Naruto growled out again. He slowly stood up to face the perpetrator. He could tell Naruto was angry not at the man's actions, but rather by who he acted against.

 **"You...** _ **HURT HER!**_ **"** Naruto roared, his voice altered as if it was mixing with another's. A red shroud of energy began to bubble its way across his skin.

 **Jedi Temple, Coruscant**

Yoda was broken out of his mediation as he felt a massive wave of dark energy, it was that same energy he had felt before eight years before. The energy was full of malice, not entirely unlike the Dark Side of the Force. His eyes widened in realization as he recognized the source.

 **Unknown, Coruscant**

"Master, do you sense that?" A hooded man questioned as his Master nodded. This one was obviously a middle aged human.

"Indeed, I do. Such hatred, such power. It rivals the hatred of the Sith, of ours." The Master answered with intrigue and fear. He was far too tall and lean to be human.

"Should we investigate it? This could be a threat to our plans." The apprentice questioned as the Master shook his head.

"No, feel it again. The power was fleeting. It's only a fraction of what it was at first. Its power is no threat to you or me." The Master shut down his apprentice's proposal. That was only true to an extent; were he still sensing the power he felt initially...it would have taken both he and Sidious together to defeat it. "There are far more pressing matters to attend to." Though in the back of his mind, he wanted nothing more to discover this power, and make it _his_.

"As you wish, Master Plagueis." Unfortunately for him, his apprentice felt the same way. Sidious realized it was time. He had to make preparations for this power, and all the power and knowledge of his master, to become his. It was time to pay a visit to his secret apprentice.

 **Sundari, Mandalore**

Plo Koon deflected some blaster fire as he quickly cut down a few assaulting insurgents, however, his face suddenly adopted a worried look. He had just sensed a powerful blast of some sort of dark energy and it was very close.

 _"May the Force be with you, Naruto…"_ He hoped that his Padawan would be fine, knowing that whatever it was, it was originating from his location. He quickly dodged the vibroblade of a Mandalorian warrior before striking him down.

 **With Naruto**

Naruto woke up to find a strange sight. One second the man had harmed Bo and the next he had woken up in a sewer system.

"What the hell?" He questioned as he stared at the large prison like gate in front of him. He took a step back as he heard sinister grumble.

 **"So, the warden comes to his inmate?"** He heard as he started into the darkness before he stumbled back as a large red slitted eye opened.

Just _what_ had he gotten himself into?

 **So? How is it? You thought the Kyuubi wouldn't play any role? Think again! Now, this was just one of the few changes I have made to the story as I feel that Kurama is important when it comes to Naruto, it's like you can't have Naruto without Kurama. It's in his character. With that out of the way, I hope you all are enjoying the longer chapters and I hope you all have a great day! Bye!**


	5. Aftershock

**Hello there, my fellow readers, and writers alike! I bring forth a new chapter! Chapter 5! Rejoice as this chapter descends from the heavens above. Anyways, yes, here it is. Chapter 5. Me and my Beta reader put a lot into this one and I have also one more announcement, Chapter 6 is already under Beta, so rejoice, it shall be updated next week. That is also another thing I want to talk about. My goal is to release at least one chapter a week, two if it is possible. So, look out for longer chapters and frequent updates for this story. Also, I was informed of the mistakes in the last chapters by a reviewer and should be fixed when this Chapter goes up. With that said, have a great read, bye!**

Naruto stared at the shadowy figure in front of him. He didn't know what it was, or where he was, but he didn't like it one bit. The shadowy figure chuckled, and Naruto shivered slightly. The chuckle was as sinister as the shadow it belonged too.

"W-Who are you?" Naruto stuttered out the question, not knowing what the figure had meant by its statement earlier. The figures eyes narrowed as it growled.

 **"Who am I? Well, I am the mighty Kyuubi no Yoko!"** The figure answered as it leaned its mighty head out of the shadows to reveal itself. True to its namesake, it looked like a fox with nine tails waving lazily behind him. Naruto however was confused. He had heard about the Nine-Tailed Fox when he was a child. What he was told was not what he was seeing.

"B-But that's impossible! Iruka-sensei told me that the Fourth Hokage killed you!" Naruto's trembling hand pointed at the large fox like creature, it's power causing his body to shake unwillingly. The Fox laughed at the blond Padawan, causing the entire room to vibrate.

 **"Kill? You cannot kill a mighty tailed beast!"** The Kyuubi roared out as the water kicked up and made waves. How dare this human, or any, think that the mightiest of all Bijuu could be killed by a mere human?

"T-Then what is this place?" Naruto questioned, as he looked around. The cavernous sewer-like area was dark with many entrances to dark hallways. Standing water filled every room up to the ankle.

 **"We are inside the seal."** The Kyuubi answered, irritated by the fact that the boy knew nothing about the seal. If Naruto had, he might have been able to convince him to release it.

"What seal?" Naruto questioned with a raised eyebrow. He knew what seals were, or rather, he had heard about the vary basics about them during his short time in the academy. He had tried to make a basic seal, a storage one, but it didn't end up too well. He didn't have the training nor the necessary lessons to make a proper seal. Basics weren't going to cut it.

 **"The seal on your stomach."** The fox answered with a point of its long tail. Naruto looked down at his stomach and indeed saw a set of very complex markings, though he had no clue what the words or the inscriptions were.

"What the hell?!" Naruto shouted in disbelief. He wasn't aware of the fact that seals could be done on living beings. The Kyuubi chuckled at the boy's reaction, in his mind, it was worth it.

 **"Surprised? Finally realized why people hated you? Ignored you?"** The fox questioned as Naruto's eyes slowly widened. He fell on his knees as he put it all together, like a piece of puzzle.

"I-I… _am_ a monster…?" Naruto muttered out. Everything made sense - the glares, all the times he was ignored, why parents made sure their kids avoided him - it all made sense now. He was the monster who had attacked the village all those years ago. It was no wonder he was so hated.

 **"Bahahah! You? A monster? Bahahah! Don't compare yourself to me boy. You are but a mere human."** The fox roared out as Naruto looked down at the water, was he not the monster? If so, then why?

" _Why…?_ If I'm not a monster then _**why!?**_ " Naruto questioned vaguely. The fox looked down at the boy, his face showing no emotions, not even a sinister grin.

 **"Why what?"** The fox questioned as Naruto looked up at the fox with an incredulous, with the fox leaning back in its cage, almost shocked. The blond's eyes, rather than being their usual blue, were a sulfuric yellow outlined by crimson. They showed anger, hate - but in this particular moment, sadness and betrayal as well.

"Why did they ignore me? Why did they look at me with _these_ eyes?" Naruto asked both himself and the fox, as he thought back to all the times he'd received a scolding or a glare of contempt. He saw it so clearly now looking back; they had the same eyes as he did now. He could tell that if their eyes could change colors like his had, they would be identical. All but a select few: Iruka-sensei, old man Ichiraku, the Hokage… Naruto slammed his fist into the watery floor, tears flowing down his cheeks and into the water. All those times, the loneliness, the isolation. He suffered never even knowing why he suffered. Hoping that one day that they would come around. Hoping that one day that it would change.

 **"People fear what they do not understand…their fear ultimately led them to hate you."** The fox answered with a serious face. He might have had a history with humanity and still have a reason to hate them, but he felt no harm giving him a straight up answer, though he still wanted out of this prison. The fox looked up as light began to illuminate the darkness, guess times up.

 **"We'll talk later, runt. For now, you need to wake up."** The fox stated as his claw reached through the gate and pushed Naruto back, who seemingly disappeared. Giving himself time to think on what he had just witnessed, the fox grumbled. The boy's eyes, they showed such powerful emotions, emotions that if left unchecked, would lead to catastrophic events.

 _ **"I should keep a closer eye on him, who knows what will end up happening…"**_ The fox thought. He might be called a being of hatred, but that was because he had come to hate humanity for what they had done to him and his kind over the years. He still remembered his father's teachings, his words.

 _ **"Father told us about a boy that will reshape the future of the universe…could it be him?"**_ The fox thought. His father was adamant about the fact that certain prophecy. One in which a man would shape the very universe, one who's actions will be echoed for thousands of years to come. Whoever this man many be, Kyuubi needed to be ready, after all, his father had left him instructions on what to do after such man had shown himself.

 **Keldabe**

"N-Naruto…" Bo muttered out as she opened her eyes, head pounding relentlessly. Rubbing it in pain she leaned up as she looked around the battlefield. Her eyes widened at the destruction. Craters were everywhere, the building behind her was on fire and she could see, what she assumed, were the body parts of those sent to kill her. She scanned frantically around the blood-scented battlefield, trying to find Naruto.

"D-Damn b-brat…t-time to put a-an e-end to y-you, you m-monster…" She heard as she turned to look at the source of the voice. It was one of the insurgents, what was left of her. She had lost a whole arm, and her armor was completely shredded, with deep scratch marks all over her remaining armor and body. Bo's eyes widened as she saw the seriously injured woman stumble across the battlefield looking for her blaster. Naruto had finally ended his rampage. His whole body was covered in wounds, riddled with marks of blaster fire, not that that had stopped the carnage.

"N-No…" She whispered out as she tried to stand up, only to fall, her mind still in a daze. She tried again, but only fell once more. She looked up to see the insurgent slowly lift her arm, the one still attached to her, readying her blaster. At that moment, she realized how weak she was, how weak she was raised. She couldn't even save her crush, one who had been defending her for the past year or so. Her hand's trembled as she began frantically crawling towards Naruto.

"It's over, Jedi scum…" the female Mandalorian briefly lamented her two fallen brothers before squeezing her finger on the trigger.

 _"_ _ **NO!**_ _"_ a scream rang out over the sound a blaster bolt. And then, silence.

"W-Wh…" The woman started to question before she fell over, her vision consumed by blackness. Bo stared at the dead woman with wide eyes as she dropped the blaster she had hastily foraged for. She had just killed someone, but she didn't feel bad - she felt…good? As if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. This was her first kill, and she had a lingering feeling that it wouldn't be her last. She defended someone she loved and there should be no shame in that. Reminding herself of him, her thoughts were quickly replaced with Naruto… _Naruto!_

"Naruto!" She yelled, throwing the blaster away and running to the knocked-out blond. She quickly got down to her knees, tears rolling down her eyes as she nestled the blonds head in her lap.

"N-Naruto…please...wake up…" She cried out, the thought of the blond dying was too great for her, it made her heart break at just the thought of it.

"B-Bo…" Naruto whispered out, the burns all over his body causing him sever pain. He was confused and in pain at the same time. Confused because one second he was talking to a - no, _the_ nine-tailed fox and the next he was waking up in severe pain, as if somebody had burnt him alive. It was also at this moment he heard Bo call out to him.

"N-Naruto?" Bo's voiced hitched as she looked down at Naruto's face. His eyelids were half open, a smile resting on his face. Trembling, he brought one of his hands up and laid it on her right cheek.

"T-Thank the F-Force your o-ok…" He said through the pain as Bo cried openly know. Even in this state he was worried about her. She felt his hands move across her cheek, wiping away the tears.

"Don't cry…it doesn't suit you…" He spoke as she started down at him, her tears falling on his cheeks. She looked at him, at his deep blue eyes.

"O-Ok…" She responded, the last of tears drying up as she kept looking down at him. The scorched Jedi Padawan grinned, causing her to blush. That grin, that stupid grin of his. Even at times like this he managed to get a reaction out of her. This time though, she didn't care if he saw.

"Good…n-now help me u-up." Naruto cried out as he tried to stand, only for Bo to hold him down.

"N-No, you need to rest." She said as Naruto sighed and tried again to stand up, but to be held back down again. Turning to look at Bo, he gulped. She was throwing a very menacing glare.

"I said, you _**need**_ to rest. I'll go find a medic." She stated, emphasizing the word need. Naruto nodded his head as he laid back down. As he did, his thoughts went back to the Kyuubi. All this time, the legendary beast was sealed inside of him.

"Naruto, what happened?" Bo knocked him out of his thoughts as he started at her. It seems like she didn't know what happened.

"I-I don't know. Last, I remember was you being knocked out by that insurgent…after that, I don't know what happened. Everything just kind of went red, and then went black." Naruto answered, well, it was partly true. He really didn't know what happened with his fight between the insurgents, but he had also lied about the fact that there was a massive fox in his gut who was obviously responsible for the carnage around them.

"I…I am sorry Naruto…because of me, you almost died…I just too weak…" Bo said, looking away sadly as Naruto sighed and shook his head.

"Bo…you're so much stronger than you think. You aren't weak, don't let anyone ever tell you that." Naruto responded with a smile as she stood up and left to find a medic. Waiting on the ground for help to arrive, he could only hope that they had finally won this accursed civil war.

 **Sundali, A Few Days Later**

And his hope had come true; the war was over. With the leaders of the insurgency shattered, the New Mandalorian government was finally able to its restore its power base in Sundari. However, now it was a long road to rebuilding all that was lost. At the palace in the Capitol, Duchess Satine was preparing to give a rousing speech in front of her supporters, her advisors from the war at her sides to guide her to the best of their abilities. Standing before her, were the heroes of the war. Loyal guardsmen who stood by her side, to the average Mandalorian who took up arms to defend the Duchess, all were heroes of Mandalore.

"I have asked you all to come to thank you all for your bravery. In the past year or so we have been at war, but that war is now over. An era of peace awaits us. There is no need for you all to fight now." Satine spoke, shocking many.

"But my lady, it would be wise to maintain some form of a military. Less these rebels attack again." Sunn advised. The man was cunning and knew how to maneuver through the bureaucracy and red tape like a snake. Satine turned to him, a determined look on her face.

"No, as of today, Mandalore will shed its skin of the old traditions. We fought this war to preserve peace. How shall we do that when we continue to arm ourselves? For peace to take hold in Mandalore, we must let go of our old traditions." Satine responded, defiantly rejecting the history of Mandalore. Sunn did his best to suppress a growl of annoyance. His chance of having influence over the military had just evaporated.

"Duchess, we must at least sanction a defense force. We will not be able to defend ourselves if we are attacked." Satine seemed to ponder this idea. Mandalore had lost much of its resources through excessive mining in the past and as such possessed little strategic value. If Mandalore was to rearm, then then other factions within the Galaxy will surely try to intervene. If there was a defense force, it would have to be extremely small.

Meanwhile, off to the side, the Jedi were having talks of their own.

"Hmm, if this beast is as powerful as you claim, then we should step up your training when we get back to Coruscant, maybe I can get some of the other Masters to teach you some lessons." Master Plo Koon thought as he stroked his mask. After they had discovered Naruto and Bo, they wanted to know what happened, but both Naruto and Bo knew nothing. However, in private Naruto had talked about meeting the Kyuubi with his Masters. Qui-Gon was the first to announce his displeasure.

"I knew something was off with the boy the moment I saw him. That beast is clearly linked to the Dark Side in some way. You heard the eyes that Naruto described." Qui-Gon said as Obi-Wan sighed. He did not know why his Master disliked Naruto. Plo Koon took offense to that.

"I don't think so, Master Qui-Gon, the beast doesn't feel like the darkness one would classify with the Dark Side. It is something different." Plo Koon stated before he turned around and led Naruto away, the words of the other Jedi Master clearly disheartened the boy. Obi-Wan himself frowned.

"Master, we've all fought side-by-side with Naruto. Not one of us have sensed the darkness within him. Whatever it is, it isn't an active piece of him." Obi-Wan spoke up as Qui-Gon looked at Obi-Wan with a stern face. "Naruto fights to protect those he cares about, not to harm others."

"And that is but one path that leads to the Dark Side. I have made sure to correct you of that mistake." Qui-Gon stated as Obi-Wan glanced towards Satine. His Master did, in fact, have a very serious talk with him.

"The boy's future is uncertain, I can only hope that you will act accordingly in the future." Qui-Gon stated, leaving Obi-Wan confused as to what he meant.

"I'm sorry Master, but what does that even mean?" Obi-Wan Questioned as Qui-Gon said nothing. He was sure that one-day Kenobi would understand. He did not hate Naruto, far from it. In fact, the two got along so well that one might think he were Qui-Gon's apprentice instead of him. Qui-Gon was only very cautious towards him, especially with this new dark power in light. Naruto had proven himself a genius of hard work, he wasn't particularly talented with the Force and he isn't all that smart, rather he's clumsy, but though it all, Naruto has worked harder than anyone. However, something kept Qui-Gon on edge. While the two talked, Plo Koon was having a conversation with a shirtless Naruto in private.

"I see, so this seal holds the fox at bay?" Plo Koon questioned as Naruto nodded. The Jedi Master hummed at that. He had studied many things in his life, with the most interesting thing among them being Sith Alchemy. It was an art deeply drenched in the Dark Side, but he could not deny that fact that it was also quite powerful. Runes were but one aspect of Sith Alchemy, and these seals looked eerily similar.

"And your lightsaber?" Plo Koon questioned as Naruto shook his head, holding up his lightsaber, trying to ignite it, but nothing happened.

"The Kyber crystal inside it is completely shattered." Naruto stated as he handed the remnants of his lightsaber to his Master. Plo Koon held the warped casing, it had many deformities on it and parts of it were completely melted.

"I see. Once we get back to the temple, you will be making your own lightsaber." Plo Koon stated as Naruto's eyes widened at that. Up until now, he had still been using a lightsaber provided by the order.

"Are you sure?" He questioned Plo Koon who nodded.

"Yes, something tells me you will soon be making one anyways." Plo Koon answered as he handed Naruto his old lightsaber. Naruto nodded as he took the destroyed scrap to see if he could salvage anything from it.

"Once we get back to the temple, I will have to talk with other Masters. It will do you good to learn from others as well." Plo Koon stated. Naruto was a fast learned with the training methods of Plo Koon, however, it was soon becoming increasingly obvious that Plo Koon would run out of things to teach unless Naruto wanted to specialize in Form V Shien like him. With that in mind, he had thought that Naruto learning with other Masters would be best, more so if the fox like entity inside Naruto was starting to become active.

"Yes, Master." Naruto said with a bow as Plo Koon nodded and turned around and left. He had other matters to attend to.

"You ok?" Naruto heard a voice behind him, turning around, he smiled as Bo came into his view. She was wearing a garment befitting of a royal on any other planet, however, it was clear she disliked such frivolous attire.

"I'll be fine. What about you? You don't seem to like those clothes at all." Naruto responded with a chuckle as Bo groaned while she walked up to him.

"I don't." She answered flatly as Naruto sighed and sat down on a nearby chair. Bo frowned as she sat done next to him.

"Clearly you're not ok. What's on your mind?" She questioned as Naruto looked at the floor.

"I-I could have hurt you…" He whispered as a concerned look fell onto her face.

"But you didn't." She said as Naruto shook his head.

"You don't understand Bo…I…" Naruto said as Bo narrowed her eyes. She quickly took a hold of his right shoulder and moved it so that he was facing her. Her green eyes stared deeply at his blue eyes.

"Don't say it, Naruto. You are not a monster. You protected me and my family. You protect my people. You brought peace. So, I will say it again, you are not a monster. Your kind, considerate, selfless, hardworking, and so much more. Don't let anyone say otherwise!" She exclaimed as Naruto looked at her with wide-eyes as shock was evident on his face as he kept on looking at her. Everything she had said, she had spoken the truth. He soon broke out in a laughter as Bo looked at him, confused.

"Ya know, you really know how to cheer me up, Bo" Naruto complemented with a smile as Bo blushed.

"Hey Naruto, I…" Bo started but was cut off as her sister's voice echoed throughout the city.

 _ **"People of Mandalore! For thousands of years our ancestors caused pain to the galaxy. They murdered, destroyed, pillaged, and took what they pleased! Their actions have left a stain on our people, a dark stain one that can only he washed away by condemning them. We must embrace the ideals of pacifism, so that the galaxy will see us as a peaceful civilization, one built on democracy and peace! No more will our sons and daughters be sent out in crusades to die! An era of peace is upon us! Let us embrace it!"**_ Satine proclaimed as the speech was heard through Mandalore, be it in the large cities to small outposts, all heard her words. Naruto managed to tune Satine out and turned back to her sister.

"Bo, you were saying something?" Naruto questioned as Bo shook her head and looked at him, before she stood up.

"I…nothing. Just wanted to say thank you for all you have done." She answered, not finding the courage to convey her feelings for him. She was still weak, but in time she would grow stronger, she had promised herself that she would get stronger, not only for herself, but for Naruto as well.

 _"I only hope you can wait for me…"_ She thought sadly, even though she knew that the odds of him and her being together were very slim, she still held out hope.

"Thanks! I hope I'll see you later in the future!" Naruto said with a grain as she nodded happily at that, oh how she wished they would meet sometime in the future. It wasn't long before the celebrations were held all over Mandalore, the people partied through the night and to the next day, but the Jedi she loved had to leave now. Bo watched as a transport ship took off, heading to space. A sad look settling her face.

"You must face reality Bo, it was never meant to be…" She heard her sister's voice. Bo growled as she kept her eyes on the retreating ship.

"Naruto is different, we will meet again and the next time we do, I will tell him how I feel." Bo replied as Satine sighed.

"Bo, he's a Jedi. Besides, you're just a child. You will get over this silly crush." Satine said as Bo turned to her elder sister, giving her a furious glare.

"Naruto is different! And this isn't a crush! I…I love Naruto! He's the one for me! He defended me so many times from so many bounty hunters and wannabe crusaders! He almost gave his life for me! No one will ever have a place in my heart like he does!" Bo shouted at her sister as Satine narrowed her eyes at her sister.

"Bo…trust me when I say I understand. You're just infatuated with him because he's protected you for so long. The sooner you accept it, the better you will be! Jedi's do not form attachments, and even if you wanted to, he will never!" Satine shouted back as Bo huffed.

"And what about your man-toy? Didn't he love you?" Bo questioned as Satine had the decency to blush.

"Of course not. He's a Jedi, we both knew what we were getting into. But that's why I understand so well what you're going through. I felt the same way whenever Obi protected me." Satine stated as Bo started to walk away.

"And where are you going young lady?" Satine questioned as Bo shot her sister one last glare.

"You're not mom, so you don't get to tell me what to do!" Bo responded as Satine winched at the mention of their mother. She watched as Bo ran off to who knows where and could only sigh.

"I'm only trying to protect you…" Satine whispered as she turned to look at the stars above. Truth was, she loved Obi-Wan, but he was gone, she couldn't be selfish. Her people needed her. Simply as that, but it didn't mean it hurt any less. Turing around, she couldn't run off to her chambers fast enough.

 **The Jedi Temple, Ten Days Later**

Naruto sighed as he walked through the hallways of the Jedi Temple. It had been almost a week they had returned to the temple and the talk with the Jedi Council was an eventful one.

 **High Council Chambers, Six Days Ago**

"The boy should be given over to me as soon as possible, in order to better control this darkness." Master Windu stated as Plo Koon shook his head.

"This isn't something that can be controlled by training. We are dealing with another entities darkness, not Naruto's. Besides, this creature isn't even connected to the Force, so your methods will not work." Plo Koon replied.

"Not of the force? Every Master here on Coruscant felt the disturbance coming from Mandalore. How can you say that this darkness has nothing do to with the Force?" Windu shot back.

Windu was adamant that he takes over Naruto's training, however, he was one Master that had been ruled out. Qui-Gon voiced his opinion that studying the dark side superficially or indirectly under Mace would end up endangering the young Padawan, or worse, cause him to turn to it fully.

"Naruto needs another master to teach him the things that I cannot." Plo Koon reminded. "And if what you said is true, and I must investigate this disturbing news on Shili, then it is too dangerous for Naruto to join me, and he must remain here training under someone else." Plo Koon stated, having felt a disturbance in the Force when they had arrived at the temple a few days ago.

"Train him for a time, Master Shaak Ti will." Yoda spoke as all eyes turned to him, including said Master. Yoda hummed as he looked at Naruto.

"Training to be a ninja, he was. Similar in nature to the Togruta, they are. Train him in these arts, Master Shaak Ti can." Yoda explained his reasoning as most of the council nodded, including Shaak Ti. She had heard even more about these ninjas from Naruto. Warriors who were experts in the arts of assassination, stealth, and espionage. They were very alike to the Togrutan hunters on her home planet. After hearing this, she had become even more disappointed that she wasn't chosen to be his master.

"With all due respect Master, we need to focus on the darkness that dwells within the boy." Qui-Gon stated as some nodded, while others stayed quiet and observed.

"Hmmm, nothing, we can do. Up to young Naruto, this is. Believe in him, we must." Yoda proclaimed as Qui-Gon sighed, Yoda was being adamantly stubborn about this.

"But Master Yoda, if left unchecked, the beast within might take control." Qui-Gon stated as Plo Koon let out a tired sigh, he was getting really tried of Qui-Gon putting his Padawan down.

"Perhaps a second Master is in order. One that can teach Naruto to find a balance with his emotions." Plo Koon stated as the room erupted into chaotic whispers and glances.

"Yet _Another_ Master?! Master Plo, surely you jest." Oppo Rancisis, to no one's surprise, held firm against any affront to Jedi tradition. Training under another Master, especially whilst one's own was needed elsewhere wasn't unheard of, but to have two Masters at the _same time_ , it simply could not be allowed.

"If I'm not getting ahead of myself, I believe I should take this vacancy." Kit Fitso, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke up. All eyes turned as they considered the carefree Naruto.

"It cannot be so. Master Fisto you already have your own Padawan, do you not?" Yarael Poof, the strange Quermian Master, voiced his displeasure. Kit Fitso shook his head.

"My current Padawan is ready for his trials, he is ready to become a Jedi Knight." Kit Fitso stated as Oppo Rancisis suppressed his anger, one-by-one the traditions of the order were being abandoned!

"Hmm, not necessary it is, for now. Monitor young Naruto's progress, we will." Yoda disagreed, much to both Naruto's and Kit Fitso's disappointment.

"Can I go now?" Naruto questioned. Through the whole meeting, he had been quiet, but he was getting really tired of standing in one spot. The other Masters must have been too, because with his question, the session was promptly concluded. This matter would need to be discussed further in the future. Shaak Ti would still be his temporary Master until Plo Koon returned from Shili.

 **Present Day**

Naruto sighed as he kept on walking, trying to find his foster sister. She was away on a mission. To do what, that he did not know, but whatever it was it must be important.

"Build my own lightsaber, he said…" Naruto grumbled out as he kept on walking. His Master had stated that he would make his own lightsaber, but his Master hadn't done anything that would hint them beginning that process.

"Naruto! Just who I was looking for!" He heard. Turing around, he spotted Siri in her red pilot suit jogging towards him. Her hair had grown longer and she had tied it back into a ponytail, her padawan braid kept separate.

"Me? I was looking for you!" Naruto shouted as she chuckled while ruffling his hair. Naruto outed at that and swatted her hand away.

"Stop it! I'm not a kid anymore!" Naruto shouted as Siri smirked and leaned into him, her nose nearly touching his.

"Oh really? Then maybe you can take me on a date, big boy?" She pursed her lips into a flirty air kiss. Even though he knew he was being teased, Naruto blushed and turned the other way.

"B-Baka!" Naruto said in his native language as Siri giggled and got down to his level, which was asking quite a lot considering how short he was for his age.

"Come on Naruto, don't be sour. I've got a present for you." She said as Naruto huffed and kept looking away from her, his eyes closed. Siri sighed.

"What is it?" Naruto questioned, though he kept up is actions. Siri dug into her pouch and pulled out a small, very small, box.

"I think birthday boy needs to find that out on his own." She answered as Naruto blinked before he realized it, it was his thirteenth birthday, and it was the first birthday that someone wanted to give him a present. A few tears threatened to fall down his cheeks as Siri sighed sadly.

"C-Can I open it?" He questioned, eyeing the gift as she nodded and extended her hand out, letting Naruto take hold of it before he opened the box. Inside the box was a crystal. It was an odd crystal. It was a Kyber crystal all right, but it was nearly transparent as if it was glass.

"What kind of Kyber crystal is this?" Naruto questioned as Siri grinned.

"Remember when you told me about how you wanted to be a ninja? Well, from what you told me, ninjas are experts at stealth, so, I thought I might get you something that complemented your stealth skills. This, is a Ghostfire Crystal." She answered as Naruto blinked and looked at her, having no clue what a Ghostfire Crystal was.

"Oh, awesome! Uh…What's a Ghostfire Crystal?" He questioned as Siri sweat dropped.

"How should I put this…a lightsaber using this type of Kyber Crystal doesn't produce a sound and has a translucent blade that's hard to follow." She explained as Naruto looked at the Kyber Crystal with stars in his eyes. This thing was pretty cool!

"This is the best present anyone has ever given to me!" Naruto proclaimed as he hugged Siri, who smiled. She was glad that Naruto liked the gift she had given him. It was during her missions she had hunted down the said crystal, knowing that it would make a great gift for him.

"Well, you best get ready to make your own lightsaber, I am sure Master Plo Koon will make you build one soon enough." Siri stated as Naruto chuckled nervously.

"Right…" He said as he chuckled, it was best of Siri didn't know that his old lightsaber was destroyed, least he gets scolded.

"Come on, let's go build my lightsaber!" Naruto stated as Siri chuckled, watching the energetic blond run down the hall. However, she frowned when she heard some of the more hardheaded Jedi Masters talk about Naruto being under consideration to receive special training from multiple Masters. She hated how they looked at him with distrust, someone who was unworthy of a Jedi. Out of spite, she decided she would become start teaching him what she knew in their free time. His defiant nature had very much rubbed off on her. So much so that she was willing to leave the order for him if it came to it.

Their bond was unbreakable, and their willfulness was about to become legendary.

 **So, how was it? I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it. After this chapter, the events of Episode 1 will follow, and so on. You should all be grateful as I had to watch episode 1. I mean, it's not as bad as I remember, but it's still a boarding movie none the less. Also, fucking Jar-Jar man, I used to hate him, but now? I laughed through his parts…I have no idea why…it just happened. Well, anyways, I hope you enjoyed this Chapter. Have a great day!**


	6. Lightsaber Diplomacy

**Hello! How are you all doing? Yes, here is Chapter 6! I know, I know, it's a day late, but fear not, chapter 7 is already under beta and chapter 8 is in the makings! So, expect Chapter 7 around Saturday or Sunday! I have been getting quite a few positive responses from you lot, along with those who have pointed out minor mistakes, which you will find are corrected as I update Chapters. So, with this Chapter, the events of episode 1 shall begin! I hope you enjoy it oh and by the way, Jar Jar was a pain in the ass to write, I pray my Beta didn't go insane…**

 **Ord Mantell, Two Years Later**

Naruto burst into action as blaster shots whizzed by him. Rolling out of the incoming fire, he quickly shot forward, slashing his assailant, a Bounty hunter. Turning around, he quickly sent a powerful Force push, throwing back the other Bounty hunters that had emerged from a nearby building.

"I have to say; you guys are a good warmup." Naruto complimented them as turned his head towards the remaining Bounty hunters. He grinned at them as he stepped forward, causing the remaining Bounty hunters to take a step back. He slowly began to raise his saber, but the moment he did, the Bounty hunters turned around and hightailed it out of there. Naruto recalled his saber as he pouted.

"That was anticlimactic." He muttered as he turned around and smiled.

"Ah, Master Plo Koon. I suspect that the mission is completed then?" Naruto questioned as said Master nodded as he approached his Padawan. Naruto had changed quite a bit during the last two years. At 5'6, he was still relatively short for a human, but he was a teenager and still growing, dammit! He had started to gain some muscle, but his overall appearance was much leaner than before. His intensified training contributed much to his current toned appearance.

"Yes, the client was escorted safely, though it looks like these Bounty hunters presented a bit of a challenge." Plo Koon answered as the two walked to their ship. Naruto hummed, deep in thought.

"Well, they have been getting better, but they are no match for the great Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto proclaimed as his Master chuckled at his proclamation while the two boarded the ship. Even though Naruto had grown, he hadn't let go of his more aloof personality.

"Be that as it may, they still possess a threat that cannot be taken lightly." Plo Koon stated as he sat down in the cockpit and plotted the course back home. Naruto rolled his eyes as he threw himself into the seat next to his Masters.

"I know, I know. Never underestimate an enemy, blah, blah." Naruto mocked, using his hand as a puppet. Plo Koon shook his head at that, it seemed despite how mature Naruto was, he always resumed acting like a child.

"Naruto, you aspire to be a Grand Master, no?" Plo Koon questioned as the ship jumped into hyperspace. Naruto's mood turned a little more serious.

"Yes, Master Plo." Plo Koon nodded and turned to look at Naruto with a point.

"Then a Grand Master wouldn't be so easily pranked." Plo Koon replied as Naruto blinked before a bucket of pink paint fell right on top of him. It seemed like his Master had left a bucket of paint in the storage compartment located directly above Naruto's seat. Naruto didn't even see his Master use the Force to pull the bucket out slightly, before the slight shaking as the ship entering hyperspace finished the job.

"Oh, it's on…" Naruto responded to the prank with a dark chuckle, but Plo Koon ignored his empty threat. After spending some time around Naruto and his pranks, Plo Koon had developed a sixth sense when it had come to Naruto's pranks. For the past two years, Naruto had been trying to prank his Master, but he always ended up failing. It seemed like it was now his turn to be on the receiving end of his Masters prank.

"You shouldn't make threats you can't back up, my young Padawan." Plo Koon replied as Naruto roze up from his seat to go take a shower before the paint dried. Over the years, Naruto had mellowed the Jedi Master out. He was a bit more relaxed, but somehow manages to be just as staunch as ever. Plo Koon had learned many lessons during his time as Naruto's Master. One of those things were to expect the unexpected; _always_.

 **Coruscant, Jedi Temple**

The ship lightly shook as it exited hyperspace. With Coruscant in their sight, the ship carrying the two Jedi slowly approached the hangar of the Jedi Temple.

"Ah, good to be back!" Naruto said as he walked out of the ship, with his Master following. The two made small talk as they walked through the hallways of the temple, before they bumped into someone.

"Master Plo, Naru!" Naruto sighed as he looked down to find a youngling, a Togruta girl.

"How many times have I told you Ahsoka, my name is Naruto! NA-RU-TO. Not Naru…" Naruto corrected the youngling, who giggled as she hid behind Master Plo Koon's leg.

"Naru's being mean!" She said as she giggled as Plo Koon chuckled.

"Don't tease him Ahsoka, after all, Naru's a big boy." Plo Koon said with a chuckle as Naruto looked at him, feeling betrayed.

"Not you too!" Naruto cried out as the Master and youngling chuckled at his expense. Naruto once again sighed. Ahsoka was a Force sensitive from Shili, found over a year ago on his Master's solo mission to the planet, and she was brought back to the Temple for Jedi training. It seemed like she had picked up quite a few things from Naruto. In particular, his habit of pranking others had made her quite the terror to her fellow younglings.

"Master Plo Koon, Padawan Naruto, the High Council requests your presence, immediately." A Temple Guard spoke up from behind them. Said Jedi raised their eyebrows. Plo Koon was wondering what would be so important as to summon him immediately following the return from their mission, while Naruto was dreading another lecture about his bond with his sister. Plo Koon quickly dropped Ahsoka off to her class and the two went on to the chambers. As they entered, they saw all eyes turn to them.

"I was told that the Council required our presence?" Plo Koon questioned as Yoda hummed.

"There is a crisis occurring on Naboo as we speak." Mace Windu stated as Plo Koon raised an eyebrow.

"A crisis, you say?" Plo questioned a Windu nodded.

"The Trade Federation has blockaded the planet. The Queen Amidala claims it is in preparation for invasion, though the Trade Federation denies this and has counterclaimed that their blockade is a perfectly legal protest." Mundi explained as Plo Koon stroked his mask.

"And I suppose you want me and my Padawan to go and investigate which of these claims are true?" Plo Koon stated as Yoda nodded.

"Go with Master Qui-Gon and his Padawan as ambassadors, you two will." Yoda spoke up as Plo Koon frowned.

"With all due respect, I do not think it would be wise for my Padawan to go on this type of mission. Particularly along with Master Qui-Gon." Plo Koon voiced his opinion, but Yoda shook his head.

"You two must go with him. Time to spare, there is not" Yoda stated, leaving no room to argue. Plo Koon bowed as he turned around, once again ready to head out. Naruto followed him in equal silence.

"So, we're leaving again?" Naruto questioned, they had just arrived, and once again they were being sent out.

"It would seem so." Plo Koon answered as he walked through the hallways. The Jedi council had already informed him of Qui-Gon's position. The senate chambers. Plo Koon wasn't a big fan of the senate. To him, the senate had grown lackadaisical, too consumed by their avarice to notice. Congratulating himself for using two of his new fancy vocabulary words, he followed his Master to the platforms located outside of the temple where they boarded a small transport that would lead them the senate building.

"You think that the Trade Federation is really blockading Naboo?" Naruto questioned as Plo Koon hummed.

"It's highly likely they are. The Trade Federation has used force in the past to get what they wanted, mostly wealth. With the recent tax imposed on trade routes, the Trade Federation was most likely to lash out in some way or another." Plo Koon stated as the transport landed slowly near the senate building, allowing Naruto and his Master to disembark. The two walked towards the large building that held the senate. As they entered the senate building, they spotted Qui-Gon.

"Master Plo Koon, I assume that the council has informed you of our mission?" Qui-Gon questioned as Plo Koon nodded.

"Indeed, they have." Plo Koon answered as the two Masters began to board a transport, their Padawan's following closely.

"I must say, it's quite refreshing to be working with you again." Obi-Wan stated as he and Naruto boarded the ship.

"Why's that?" Naruto questioned as he took a seat.

"Because trouble seems to follow after you." Obi-Wan responded with a chuckle as Naruto rolled his eyes as he set his things down.

"Not my fault that the Hutt's placed a bounty on my head." Naruto stated. It was true. After his actions during the Mandalorian Civil War, Naruto had attracted a death mark worth a modest amount of credits.

"You shouldn't have fought at every chance then. If you had listened to the Masters and focused on defense, then the Bounty hunters wouldn't be after you." Obi-Wan stated as Naruto sighed. That was a mistake on his part. He would always go on the offensive, not the defensive. As such, he had killed many Bounty Hunters. The more enemies they lost, the more enemies they sent, and the more he killed. Somewhere along the way he himself became a secondary target of the hired Bounty hunters, many of whom simply hunted him out of vengeance for their fallen comrades.

"Well, sorry for taking the initiative and striking at the enemy." Naruto stated as the transport began to lift before it shot into space.

 **Naboo, Trade Federation Blockade**

As the ship travelled to Naboo, the team of four Jedi strategized, leaving the rest of the crew to pilot the ship.

"We are being sent to investigate whether the claims of a hostile Trade Federation blockade are true or not. If they are true, then we must negotiate the removal of it." Qui-Gon stated as Plo Koon stroked his mask.

"If the Trade Federation is blockading Naboo with ill intent, then we should be on guard. The Trade Federation isn't known to be kind in the past." Plo Koon stated as the others nodded. The Trade Federation was known to use droids as tax collectors. And they weren't exactly protocol droids.

"So, if they're blockading Naboo and don't want to negotiate, then we beat some slimy Neimoidian ass?" Naruto questioned as Qui-Gon frowned at the Padawan's choice of word, while Plo-Koon sighed. He had tried many times to kick that habit of his out, but clearly it was here to stay.

"I suggest that once we land, we allow our transport ship to leave. If the Trade Federation is less than cooperative, they might destroy it." Plo Koon suggested, no point in risking the lives of the crew.

"You really think that we might come under attack? What harm can a trade guild do?" Naruto questioned as Qui-Gon resisted the urge to facepalm. Plo Koon raised an eyebrow as Obi-Wan gave Naruto a blank look.

"This is the Trade Federation we are talking about. I won't be surprised if they have an army of droids on their cargo vessels." Plo Koon stated as Naruto chuckled nervously, he should have known that. He guessed Siri must have forgotten to mention that in her hand-me-down history lesson about Cato Nemoidia. His sister had mentioned the fact, but Naruto simply forgot.

"Moving on, once we land, we're ambassadors. You two must be on your best behavior." Plo Koon ordered as Obi-Wan nodded.

"But what about the transport, logically, if this does go south, the enemy would target it first. Shouldn't we tell the pilot to fly into high orbit and wait for our signal" Surprisingly, it was Naruto who asked this question. His Master nodded at the answer. Qui-Gon nodded as Obi-Wan grinned.

"I see you have learned some battle tactics and strategy?" Obi-Wan questioned as Naruto smirked.

"Master Shaak Ti taught me more than a few things!" Naruto exclaimed as Obi-Wan nodded at that. Indeed, Naruto had started to learn a whole new lightsaber form, Form II, under Shaak Ti. At first, he hated it, but when he sprung it on Siri in a sparring match, she was caught totally off guard and Naruto scored several hits with his practice saber, actually winning the duel against the senior Padawan.

Speaking of Siri, the two of them were quite the talk of the temple. Some of the more traditional and strict Masters had called them Code Breakers, the fact that the two had formed an attachment made many fear that it would lead both Naruto and Siri to the Dark Side, though that was yet to be seen.

"That is not a good idea. If our negotiations fail, that transport is our only way off the Federation ship." Obi-Wan finished as Naruto took this into consideration. To the Republic, four Jedi Knights were probably more valuable than both the Consular ship and the rest of the crew. Naruto relented and pushed these thoughts out of his head, not wanting to think about how wrong they were.

"Ambassadors, we are approaching the Trade Federation ship. We need you to transmit your diplomatic codes." One of the crew member reported as the Masters nodded and headed to the cockpit, leaving the two Padawan's to talk amongst themselves. Naruto was tinkering with his lightsaber, while Obi-Wan observed the blond.

"Naruto, why do you defy the Order?" Obi-Wan questioned as Naruto looked up at him and blinked. Where did that come from?

"What do you mean?" Naruto questioned as Obi-Wan looked down at the table. His Master had defied the Order many times, but not to an extent that Naruto had.

"Master Qui-Gon disobeys the Council from time to time, but his defiance always seems to have wisdom. But you willingly form attachments, yet you know what the Order tells us about forming attachments. You do not control your emotions, you enjoy the thrill of a battle, and mostly, you have stated repeatedly that you do not care for the opinions of the Masters." Obi-Wan said as Naruto hummed.

"When you put it that way, yeah, I guess I do defy the Order. But didn't you and Siri have a thing for a little while, too?" Naruto said with a chuckle. The two had been briefly romantic in the past, but that was a footnote in history by now. Obi-Wan kept his stern look, waiting for Naruto to stop chuckling. He wasn't going to let the blond get away without answering his question.

"Kenobi-senpai, I'm a Jedi just like you, but my philosophy regarding the way one should approach the Force is slightly different. The Jedi Order tells us that it is emotions that lead to the Dark Side, and anger's bad, to be sure, but I believe that we Jedi focus so much on suppressing our other emotions that when they do surface, they do not know how to deal with them." Naruto said with uncharacteristic wisdom as Obi-Wan blinked at the response. This was not what he had expected. However, now that he thought about it, much of his training was centered around controlling one's emotions.

"And what do you think about emotions?" Obi-Wan questioned as Naruto grinned.

"Emotions…are what makes us strong. They are what allows us to push ourselves to our limits and beyond them. They allow us to protect those we care about, to protect those we love." Naruto answered as Obi-Wan processed that response. He was broken out of his thoughts as the ship jerked.

"It seems that we've landed." Obi-Wan stated as Naruto nodded. The two stood up as the Masters approached them.

"Alright, let's get the negotiations underway." Qui-Gon stated as Obi-Wan followed his Master.

"Remember Naruto, try not to get into trouble." Plo Koon spoke to his Padawan as Naruto sighed.

"Sure thing, but it's not my fault if trouble finds me!" Naruto stated as his Master chuckled. The two followed the other pair as the ship they had arrived in slowly took off and exited the hangar bay. Naruto looked around, spotting a few droids and some droid fighters.

"For a trade guild, they sure are well equipped." Naruto whispered as Plo Koon nodded. The Trade Federation was known to use battle droids to enforce their laws and protect their trade routes. The group of four Jedi's followed a protocol droid to a conference room where they would wait.

"I don't like this." Obi-Wan stated as Plo Koon hummed while Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow.

"What's there not to like?" Qui-Gon questioned as Obi-Wan frowned, something here was not right. Naruto mean while grinned.

"I can't wait to fight!" Naruto said as Obi-Wan chuckled at the blond Padawan. The tension in the room lessened, but Obi-Wan still had a bad feeling.

"Let's hope we don't have to fight." Plo Koon said as Qui-Gon nodded. They were here to negotiate, not fight. However, the Jedi waited and waited, but no one came, other than the protocol droid, who handed out some refreshments. However, as they waited, gas started to pour into the room via the vents. The group of Jedi quickly leapt into action, their sabers ignited as they held their breath. The door leading to fthe room opened.

"Corporal, take lead." They heard the voice of a battle droid. Think fast, Naruto charged through the smoke and deflected a few blaster shots before he cut down the battle droids with ease. He was simply too fast for the battle droids. The others soon followed as they ran through the hallways of the droid vessel, heading to the bridge.

"Over there!" Qui-Gon yelled as they approached a locked down.

"The bridge is on the other side." Plo Koon stated as Qui-Gon pushed his saber through, trying to cut a hole through the door. Naruto looked to his right, seeing battle droids coming his way. Spinning around, he began to deflect the blaster fire before he quickly charged forward, cutting down the first battle droid. He quickly brought his saber right, deflecting a blaster bolt back at the droid, while using the Force and to throw back the rest of the droids on his left. The droids crashed into the walls of the hallway, smashing into pieces. Naruto took a deep breath as he turned to look back. It seemed like his Master and Obi-Wan had defeated the droids sent their way as well.

"Almost there." Qui-Gon said, cutting through the blast door. However, before he could cut through, Droidekas rolled down the center hallway. The two rolling droids stopped and unfolded, activating their shields, and began firing at the Jedi's.

"They have shield generators." Obi-Wan stated as Naruto rolled his eyes.

"You don't say!" Naruto yelled as he deflected the blaster fire. It was becoming increasingly clear that they were getting nowhere with this as the shields on the droids were too strong for standard blaster fire.

"Let's go." Qui-Gon ordered as the four sped down the hallway to their left and quickly entered one of the ventilation shafts.

"Those droids were a pain in the ass." Naruto muttered as Obi-Wan nodded.

"Agreed, their shields make them quite dangerous." Obi-Wan added on as the four reached the end of the ventilation shaft. They jumped down and hid behind some containers. Naruto took a peek and his eyes slightly widened.

"Holy…there's got to be thousands of them!" He said in a hushed voice. Before them, was an army of droids, all standing in formation in front of transports. Qui-Gon frowned at this new discovery.

"It seems like the Trade Federation are indeed planning to invade Naboo." He said as the others nodded. This was the only conclusion. Why else would they bring a massive droid army?

"We must warn them." Obi-Wan stated as the others nodded.

"Indeed. We should split up. Hide in one of those transports, we will meet down at the surface." Plo Koon stated as four Federation ships earned their own individual stowaways. If one of the transports was somehow destroyed with them onboard, the others would be able to finish their job. Naruto however didn't just sneak upon a transport, he was going through its contents.

"B1 Battle Droids, and they are all controlled by a single ship? That's kind of dumb." Naruto stated as he went through the logs of the transport ship. As he went through the logs, he began to work his magic on some of the droid carriers, he changed their targeting programming into low priority executable subroutines, so the delay between them raising their weapons and firing at their enemy would make them essentially useless. With that done, he waited for the transport to land.

 **Two Hours Later, Theed**

"Dammit..." Naruto muttered as he walked through a forest. The droid transport he was on had landed a few minutes ago. However, it had landed on the other side of the city, away from the other's location. So, he began to make his way to the city, hoping he would link up with the rest. As he walked through the forest however, he allowed himself to feel his surroundings. So many different life forms were around him, in this forest. Taking a deep breath, he began using his Chakra. He didn't know much about it, and the Nine-Tails wasn't too keen on sharing any knowledge of it. So, he did the next best thing, hard work. Through some training, he could learn more about Chakra, though nothing complicated.

For example, he learned that by using enough Chakra, he could pacify his Midi-chlorians completely and mask himself from the Force. Overall, he theorized that Chakra had many applications, but such applications most likely took years to learn and even more to master.

"Stupid fox…" Naruto mumbled as he finally reached the end of the clearing, only to find that the city was already under siege by the droid army.

"Shit…" Naruto cursed as he narrowly avoided a group of battle droids passing below. Getting into the city had been easy, considering how stupid the droids were. Hiding behind a pillar, he scanned the courtyard below, watching as the droids moved prisoners to their designated camps. Looking down below, he spotted a group of people being escorted by droids.

" _That must be the Queen…"_ Naruto thought as he looked at the extravagantly dressed female at the head of the group. Following ahead of the prisoners atop the buildings of Theed, he waited as the droids led the group through a pathway and into a smaller courtyard. After one of the prisoners looked up at him with a nod, he knew it was time to strike. He leapt into the air and activated his Lightsaber, the silent Ghostfire crystal coming in handy as no one else saw the airborne Jedi. Landing behind the group, he charged forward, slashing one of the droids, before he jumped over the group and took down the droid at the front.

"Halt!" One of the droids stated, pointing its blaster, and firing at Naruto. Naruto however deflected the bolt, sending it back at the droid. The captured guards of the group quickly took the moment to seize the droid's blasters, before firing at them. Seeing that the droids were dispatched, Naruto deactivated his saber.

"Are you the ambassador?" The guard Captain questioned incredulously as Naruto tried to think.

"Kind of…? Wait, how did you know where I was?" Naruto said as he raised an eyebrow.

"I saw your shadow about two blocks back, you were waiting for the opportunity to strike. Good thing you saw my signal before we crossed that overpass because it's all enclosed space after that." the dark-skinned Captain responded.

The captain quickly turned around and pointed his blaster as three other figures jumped down, but he slowly brought it down as he realized that the figures were Jedi. Naruto meanwhile raised an eyebrow, it seemed that they had quite an adventure, given the state of their clothes.

"Where were you lot?" Naruto questioned as Plo Koon walked up to him.

"We ran into a…detour…" Plo Koon stated as another figure fell from the overpass. Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked behind his Master to get a look at the downed figure.

"Is that a…Gungan?" Naruto questioned as the alien stood up quite clumsily.

"Oh, yousa jedis!" Naruto raised an eyebrow as he looked at the Gungan and slowly nodded before he threw Obi-Wan a questioning look.

"Naruto, this is Jar-Jar Binks, Jar-Jar, this is Naruto." Obi-Wan introduced the two as extended a hand out to the Gungan.

"Nice to meet ya." Naruto said as Jar-Jar shook his hand very enthusiastically.

"Yousa palos saved meesa from those mackaneeks!" Jar-Jar exclaimed as Naruto nervously smiled at the odd, annoying creature. Gungan speech was odd, odder even than Master Yoda's! Thankfully, he was saved by his Master.

"Jar-Jar, can you please let Naruto go? We have important businesses to attend to." Plo Koon spoke up as he made his way to the Queen, Qui-Gon following right behind him.

"We are ambassadors for the Supreme Chancellor." Qui-Gon stepped in as the Queen looked at him.

"Your negotiations seem to have failed." Governor Sio Bibble, the chair of the Queen's advisory council, said as Qui-Gon shook his head in dismissal.

"The negotiations never took place. The Trade Federation never meant to speak with us." Qui-Gon stated as Obi-Wan nodded.

"This was an unexpected move from the Federation. It's urgent that we make contact with the Republic" Plo Koon added in. While the Trade Federation was known to be violent in the past, but this? This was a step too far, even for them.

"They've knocked out all communications" the Guardsman interrupted.

"Do you have transports? We need to get her highness to Coruscant immediately." Qui-Gon questioned the lead guardsmen, Quarsh Panaka.

"In the main hangar, but it's on the other side of the city." Panaka warned. Qui-Gon nodded and began to follow the group to the hangar. As they walked, Naruto took note of one of the handmaidens. She looked quite pretty to him. Walking next to her, he started up a conversation.

"And who are you?" He questioned her. Judging by her looks, she seemed about a year younger then him. The handmaiden looked towards him and gave him a small smile.

"I'm Padme." She introduced herself as Naruto nodded.

"Well, hello Padme, I'm Padawan Naruto Uzumaki." He introduced himself as she giggled at that name.

"Isn't that the Orgrono word for a type of seafood cake?" She questioned with a giggle as Naruto groaned.

"It's Mandalorian. It means Maelstrom." He grumbled to the inquisitive Padme giggled again at the Padawan's antics. Naruto sighed as Padme gave him a curious look once she had stopped laughing.

"Can I help you?" Naruto questioned as he turned to her causing her to blush slightly. Now that she looked at him, he looked quite handsome with his features.

"Um, I was wondering, are all Jedi Padawan's as young as me?" She questioned as Naruto hummed.

"Well, all younglings have been selected to be Padawan's by the time they are thirteen." Naruto stated as she raised an eyebrow.

"So, you're still a rather new Padawan?" She questioned as Naruto laughed.

"New? Nah, I was a Padawan when I was eleven!" Naruto stated, much to Padme's shock. She knew little about the Jedi Order and how they operated, but to send a child to such dangerous missions?

"Isn't eleven a little young?" She questioned as Naruto shook his head.

"Nope. It's all about the skills, lady. I was chosen to be a Padawan early because I was so far ahead of the curve for my age group. The Grand Master assigned me to become Master Plo's Padawan. Besides, this isn't even the first time I was sent into a warzone." Naruto answered, shocking her even more. They sent children into warzone?!

"That's crazy, what war were you sent to fight in?" She questioned him. How could they send children into war? That was unethical and just wrong!

"I was ready, and we weren't sent to fight, only to protect the Duchess. That's why they sent me. Still, wannabe Mandalorian crusaders aren't a walk in the park." He replied as Padme looked at him as if he was crazy. Did he say Mandalorian insurgents? Then that would mean…

"You took part in the Mandalorian Civil War? Then that would put you around…you were still eleven when they sent you?!" She almost shouted as Naruto rolled his eyes. Why was she so surprised? The Galaxy was full of even more stranger things.

"Yeah. In fact, I was promoted to Padawan just so I could go on the mission. So, what? The Order - no, the Force deemed me fight to fight. My Master taught me that the Force has a will and it is always at motion and we must follow. He also taught me that until I embrace my full potential, I will only be a pawn of fate, never its master. And I don't plan to let myself become a pawn of fate, I will be its master." Naruto stated as Padme thought over what he had just said. She didn't know much about the Force, but hearing Naruto, it sounded like the Force was a higher power. She was going to ask a few more questions, but she noticed that they had arrived at their destination.

"Well, I better move up, we got work to do." Naruto said as he stood and headed out. Leaving the handmaiden to her thoughts regarding the boy. He was odd, different than the other Jedi's she had observed.

 **Royal Palace Hangar**

Arriving in the hangar, they spotted another group of prisoners being guarded by droids.

"We'll need to free those pilots, first." Panaka stated as Naruto nodded.

"I'll handle that." Obi-Wan stated as he calmly walked towards the droids. Qui-Gon continued with the main group towards the Nubian Royal Starship.

"Halt!" the droid commander ordered.

"I am ambassador to the Supreme Chancellor, I am taking these people to Coruscant." Qui-Gon explained.

"Where are you taking them?" the droid asked him to repeat himself.

"To Coruscant" Qui-Gon did so.

"Coruscant? Uhh... that doesn't compute... uhh... you're under arrest!" The droid commander had tried to make sense of what he'd just been told before realizing that the Jedi Master was an enemy.

Plo Koon quickly charged forward with great speed and cut down a large group of the droids. Everyone, minus the Jedi, stared at the experienced Kel Dor Master in shock. The hangar had burst into complete chaos as Obi-Wan freed the pilots and Naruto and Qui-Gon defended the Queen.

"Open fire!" The rest of the droids within the hangar began to fire at the group as they ran into the vessel while begin covered by the Jedi. However, as the group was being boarded, a few of the pilots were hit. Naruto moved out of position to cover them before noticing that an entire platoon of droids was entering the hangar.

"Kenobi! Get those pilots in! I'll hold these rust buckets off!" Naruto shouted out as Obi-Wan nodded and began to help the pilots in as Qui-Gon aided his Padawan. As Naruto deflected blaster fire he began to move foreward, away from the group, he spotted his Master moving towards him.

"Master Plo, go. I'll hold them off!" Naruto shouted out as his Master frowned.

"No, I'll do that. You need to get on board." Plo Koon shouted back, continuing to move towards danger. He wasn't about to lose his Padawan. Naruto shook his head, cutting down a few droids.

"Not gonna happen, Master. You're more important to this mission." Naruto stated as he continued to deflect blaster fire. Plo Koon frowned at his Padawan he wasn't going to leave his Padawan behind. But, before he could say anything, Droidekas rolled into the room, between him and his Padawan, and began to fire upon the ship. Now Plo Koon had a choice. He could either allow the ship to be damaged rescuing his Padawan, or he could leave without him.

He only hoped that Naruto would survive this ordeal.

"Siri's going to be quite displeased…" Plo Koon muttered as he hurried up the boarding ramp and as soon as he did, it closed. The ship slowly hovered before its thrusters shot it out of the hangar. Naruto meanwhile was deflecting blaster fire like crazy, spinning his saber in a circular motion and slicing many droids in the process, yet they kept coming. A bolt grazed his shoulder and he winced in pain.

"Dammit…Alright Naruto, time for a new plan." He said to himself as he leapt forward, spinning, and cutting down a group of droids before sending a ball of condensed Force into another group, causing a small explosion. Looking for an exit, but he found the entrance they had come from to be swarming with droids. Looking back, he saw the only other exit…the hangar bay.

"Beggars can't be choosers." Naruto muttered as he ran towards the drop off and jumped straight out of the hangar and off the mountainous Naboo cliff, seemingly a good two mile drop. The droids walked up to the edge of the hangar and looked down, seeing the falling Jedi.

"Uh…do we pursue?" One of the droids questioned, looking at another droid.

"Negative." The droid replied, not sure of the protocol regarding such a unique situation. But assumed the Jedi would die from the fall.

"Roger Roger." The droids replied as they began to head back to their assigned position.

 **With Naruto**

"Oh hell…" Naruto said to himself as he freefell from the large drop, with the group below getting closer and closer. He was starting to panic as the forest below was getting too close for comfort.

"Come on Naruto, think!" He yelled at himself before he brought his hands together, forming a large ball of Force energy.

"I hope this works…" He muttered as he held the ball in his hands, but as soon as he was a few meters above the ground, he shot the ball forward, slowing his descent, but still crashing hard into the tree branches before tumbling to the ground.

"O-Ouch…I t-think I broke a r-rib or t-two…" He said painfully, winching as he stood up. He looked up, and saw green lights zooming across space before they ceased. He assumed that the green lights were enemy fire from the blockade and the target was the Queens ship. Considering that that there weren't signs of any explosions, he assumed the Queens ship had escaped.

"May the Force be with you…" Naruto thought as he heard movement within the forest around him. Raising his hand, he activated his lightsaber, expecting droids. However, out of the bushes came humans, armed with blasters.

"You must be a Jedi?" One of them questioned as Naruto slowly nodded. The dark-skinned teenager, around his age, nodded and ordered the rest of them to lower their weapons. Naruto looked around as the man who asked the question walked up to him.

"Thank the Force. I thought we would have to fight the droid army on our own." The man stated as Naruto raised his eyebrow.

"Who are you?" He questioned, but winced as he felt pain on his side. He had indeed broken a few ribs. The man noticed this and called for a medic to tend to Naruto's injury.

"My name is Gregar Typho. I'm part of Royal Naboo Security. And you?" The man introduced himself as a medic saw to Naruto's injury. Naruto nodded as he thanked them and stood up.

"Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm assuming that you want me to join some sort of resistance group?" Naruto questioned as the man nodded. Naruto sighed, once again trouble found him.

 **Onboard the Naboo Starship**

Plo Koon sat cross-legged, and eyes closed. Trying to sense any sort of disturbance in the Force. As he meditated, Qui-Gon entered the room.

"Master Plo, I fear your Padawan might not be returning back from this mission…" Qui-Gon spoke. He wasn't trying to be cold or anything, he had seen many Jedi Masters who had lost their Padawan's and though they might not show it, it affected them to some degree. Plo Koon stood up, and frowned, if he could, at Qui-Gon.

"My Padawan will be fine. I have faith in Naruto. Besides, he has faced far worse than battle droids." Plo Koon said with a little anger in his voice. He should know better than to write off his Padawan as dead. Walking past Qui-Gon, he subdued his anger. Naruto would be fine, he was trained well under Master Shaak Ti. He could hide from the droids with ease.

 _"May the Force be with you…"_ He thought to himself, looking outside a view port and watching the planet of Naboo grow smaller and smaller before it was nothing more than a dot in the distance.

 **So? How was it? Good, right? With Naruto being left behind, things might not turn out good, or will they? Hahaha! Cliffhanger! I hope you enjoyed this Chapter as I have and I know that there still are grammatical mistakes, but me and my beta try to catch as many of them as we can, well, he does most of them lol. With that said, I bid you all farewell, bye!**


	7. The Padawan Menace

**Well, hello there! How are you doing my fellow readers and writers? I see you have all waited for the next update and I know it's a day late but wait! Some of you might notice that my chapters for this story are starting to reach 6000 words and up! Dame, this must be the LARGEST story I have ever written with so many words per chapter. Thought it would have been impossible without my Beta, such a nice guy. Well, I hope you all enjoyed this! Bye!**

Siri's day had been going rather well and then she received news that almost gave her a heart attack. She was _not_ pleased. Scratch that, she was _pissed_.

"You left him _**behind?!**_ " She shouted as Obi-Wan winced at the volume of her voice and shrank down a little, fearing the wrath of an anger sister.

"W-We didn't have a choice. The pilots were hit and Naruto told us to help them in…" Kenobi tried to explain, but the female Jedi wouldn't have any of it.

"And you just listened to him!? What were you thinking Obi-Wan?! He could be in serious trouble right now!" Siri all but shouted.

"Calm yourself, my Padawan will be fine." They all turned to the voice of Master Plo Koon as he calmly walked up to the group, causing Obi-Wan to release a sigh he didn't know he was holding. He didn't want to be on Siri's wrong side.

"But Master, he's still just a kid! How can you leave him behind?" She questioned as Plo Koon sighed.

"Siri, you should have more faith in Naruto. He survived one war, he can survive another." Plo Koon reasoned as Siri calmed down somewhat, but threw glares at Kenobi and Plo Koon. The guards let go of her after seeing that she was calmed down.

"I have faith in him, more faith then anyone in this temple, Master Plo, even you. But Naruto has been stuck there for weeks…" She muttered out. She felt so helpless right now. She just wanted to jump into her fighter and go and get him back, but even she knew that option was out of the question for now.

"I understand how you feel Siri, but there is nothing we can do right now." Plo Koon said somberly. Obi-Wan could only look at the two with confusion. It was clear that Siri went against the traditions of the Jedi Order by forming an attachment, but Master Plo Koon? He was also showing some form of attachment with his Padawan.

"So, where is your Master, Obi-Wan?" Siri questioned as she narrowed her eyes.

"He's with the council." Obi-Wan answered, noticing that Siri's anger was directed at his Master somewhat. Probably because Qui-Gon ordered the ship to take off without him.

"Why is he still with the council?" She questioned as Obi-Wan started to explain the little journey they had been on. Finding a slave boy named Anakin, who's Midi-chlorian count was extraordinarily high, even higher than Master Yoda's. Siri scoffed at that, countering that Naruto's count was high too.

"Siri, it was over twenty thousand." Obi-Wan said sternly. Siri immediately shut up, her mouth agape. Naruto and Yoda's counts were definitely high, but nowhere near that.

 **With the Council**

Oppo Rancisis strongly protested as he stared down at Qui-Gon, who was standing behind a young boy. Qui-Gon had presented Anakin to the council a few minutes ago and had asked that he be admitted into the Jedi Order, but it did not go well.

"With all due respect Master Jedi, we've already broken away from tradition." Qui-Gon stated as some of the Master raised an eyebrow, but it was Shaak Ti who questioned him.

"And what do you mean by that?" She questioned as Qui-Gon gulped. Shaak Ti's tone wasn't that of some who asked a questioned, but rather of someone who was daring him to answer. He had to pick his words carefully.

"I am referring to Naruto Uzumaki, of course." He answered and just like that the temperature in the room fell a little. He could feel the stares some of the Jedi Masters were sending him. While Masters Mundi, Fisto, and even Master Yoda were quite supportive of Naruto, there was a silent majority that still opposed his actions.

"Hmm, young Naruto is a special case. Sense the darkness inside him, we all do. But the darkness in young Skywalker, much more insidious, it is. His fear controls his actions, and too, his destiny." It was Master Yoda who decided to break the silence that seemed to have lasted for what seemed hours. Master Qui-Gon turned to look at Master Yoda and simply stared at him.

"Master Yoda, surely you must consider Anakin a special case as well. He _is_ the Chosen One. His potential in the Force is unlike anything we've ever seen." Qui-Gon stated as Yoda hummed with his eyes closed. He was in deep thought, in mediation with the Force to find an answer.

"The boy is too old. Past cases aside, he will not be allowed to join the Order. Naruto was allowed because he failed many of the tests we presented to him." It was Mace Windu who stated. While passing a test was what one would want, it was opposite for those who were to join the Order. Since it was children who were brought to the Order, they were tested with imagery, to see how much they knew of technology. That was but one of the tests to see the knowledge of the potential Youngling.

"I will train him, then. On my own if need be." Qui-Gon stated as he set his hands onto Anakin's shoulders as the council sighed. Qui-Gon, while a great Jedi, was often quite disobedient regarding the Council's wishes. But this was a matter of breaking the Jedi Code. No Master could have to apprentices, lest the apprentices be driven to recklessly outdo one another. Whether or not Obi-Wan was ready for the trials was another matter. The Council did not want Anakin trained. Naruto was already quite a problem, they couldn't handle another one like him.

 **Naboo**

As the city of Theed had fallen to the droid armies, a resistance was formed to combat the droids and leading them were some high-ranking guards and one Jedi Padawan.

"The droids are positioned here, here, and here." A resistance fighter marked the positions on the map as some high-ranking officers gathered around the table in a dimly lit room.

"What if we attack here at the command center, causing a diversion, and attack the armory here?" One of the resistance officers offered up a plan, outline his plan while others analyzed it.

"No, there are simply too many of them posted near the Viceroy. He'll panic and order more droids to defend him. Our diversion team will be overwhelmed in no time." Another officer stated as the others sighed. No matter what, they were simply outnumbered and outgunned. A young man slammed his fist onto the table in excitement.

"We have a Jedi! We can take them on!" He stated as the others shook their head. "He managed to destroy one of their blockade battleships just by planting a handful of bombs in their cargo ships. Surely he can take down a regiment of droids." He continued.

"A Jedi may be worth a hundred droids, but there are thousands out there. Naruto can only handle so many before he's finished." One of the older officers fired back as the room descended into semi-chaos as each of the officers began to voice their own concerns, ideas, battle plans and so on.

"Enough!" The self-appointed commander of the resistance force shouted out as everyone turned to face him. Gregar Typho was a man who took after his uncle, a man of leadership. Mere hours after Theed was invaded by the Trade Federation, Gregar was the first to organize a resistance force made up of the Naboo security force and other locals who volunteered to repel the invaders from their planets. He was ultimately still their chosen leader, and the Jedi was considered his second-in-command. Although some of the more experienced officers they rescued from prison had begun to undermine his efforts in the past week.

"This is no time to quarrel with each other. Our people are suffering under the Trade Federation and here we are, fighting amongst ourselves. It doesn't matter if we have a Jedi, we are still outnumbered so long as we bicker amongst ourselves." Gregar said as the others looked towards him and continued the yelling match. It didn't matter how well equipped the resistance was, most of the people here were young boys eager to prove themselves and get into the action, and a couple of grizzled old veterans set deep in their ways.

"Oi! Start running! We got gears inbound!" Naruto warned as he burst through the door, a bit out of breath. Gregar gave him a serious look as he approached him.

"How many?" Gregar asked urgently as Naruto scratched his head, pondering about how many had been chasing him.

"I don't know, maybe four hundred, could have been five." Naruto answered as Gregar quickly turned around, looking at the completely dumbfounded officers, awestruck that Naruto managed to escape from that many droids.

"Gather your men, and start evacuating now!" Gregar ordered and the officers hurried out of the room, all intent on completing the order they were given. Gregar then turned towards Naruto once more.

"Naruto, can you delay them?" He requested the blond Jedi who nodded with a grin.

"Hell yeah, leave it to me!" Naruto replied as he turned and ran out of the door he had come thought to have a good fight. As he ran out the building and rounded a corner, he spotted a squad of battle droids.

"Halt, you're under arrest!" One of the droids declared as Naruto scoffed and activated his saber.

"No. _You're_ under arrest!" He shouted back as the droid looked to his compatriots, confused profusely at Naruto's statement.

"Uhm…no?" The droid answered, being unable to compute what Naruto had stated, but it was too late as Naruto was already upon them, slicing the droid clean in half before he cut down a few more. It wasn't long before more arrived and opened fire at the teenage Jedi, but at this point he was simply too close. As the droids fired, Naruto dodged and deflected the bolts. With each droid he cut down, he brought his saber up to deflect a bolt back at another droid. He had cut down a several dozen in just a few short minutes.

"Is that all you got?!" Naruto shouted out as he sent a powerful Force push, throwing back an entire group of droids into a one big pile of scrap metal. Still, the number of droids was overwhelming, and Naruto heard the hum of two AATs turn the street corner He grit his teeth and began to cut down as many droids as he could before they arrived.

"Naruto!" Naruto looked back, hearing his name. He spotted Gregar and a few of his men armed with heavy weapons. He nodded, figuring out the plan in but a moment. Cutting down one last droid, he used the Force to jump high up into the air and onto a building to his right as the droid tanks turned their main weapons up at him.

"Fire!" Gregar shouted out as the soldiers fired plex missiles, completely obliterating the first AAT, but second one pushed the wreckage aside and fired at Gregar's group as they reloaded their rockets. Naruto quickly made his way to Gregar's side and scanned the battlefield.

"Gregar, aim at the skybridge I was just on!" Naruto said, pointing at the large structure connecting two buildings. Gregar looked towards it and nodded.

"You heard him, fire!" He shouted out as the rockets were sent smashing into the overhead, causing it to come crashing down on top of the AAT and blocking the pathway, preventing any more droids coming from that direction, however, another battalion turned the corner

"We held them back long enough, let's go!" Gregar ordered as he, his men and Naruto ran from their current position and headed to one of the few hideouts the resistance had left.

 **Coruscant, Two Days Later**

While Naruto and the resistance were fighting a losing battle against the droid army on Naboo, the situation in Coruscant was not looking good either. The Queen of Naboo had called for a vote of no confidence in Supreme Chancellor Valorum after Naboo's Senator, Palpatine convinced her that the current Chancellor was weak and stuck under the thumbs of the bureaucrats. With the Senate thrown into chaos, and Naboo under the Trade Federation's iron grip, the Queen decided that the only one who could save Naboo was she herself.

"I assume that you plan to come with me, Master Jedi?" The Queen questioned as Obi-Wan and Plo Koon nodded.

"The Jedi Council has agreed that the situation on Naboo is not your average ordeal. We believe another force is at play." Plo Koon answered as the Queen turned and boarded her ship. She cared not for the Jedi's and their objectives, she only cared for her people.

"Master, you cannot be serious. We are going into a warzone, why bring Anakin to it?" Obi-Wan spoke up, finally having enough of his Master's unusually behavior towards the boy.

"Naruto was still young when he stepped onto a battlefield. I'm confident Anakin can handle it, too." Qui-Gon responded as Obi-Wan sighed.

"Naruto was trained in the ways of the Force prior to the Mandalorian Civil War. Anakin still has no knowledge of it." Obi-Wan reasoned. Qui-Gon shot him a 'trust my judgement' look that basically ended the conversation. With another deep sigh, Obi-Wan began to board the ship. Plo Koon was about to follow, but was spotted by a shout.

"Wait! I'm, coming too!" He heard a shout as he turned around to find Siri running up to him. Raising an eyebrow, he hummed at her appearance.

"Did the Council send you?" Plo Koon questioned as she gave him a stern smirk.

"Of course." She answered as Plo Koon nodded warily and began to board the vessel. Siri quickly followed, intent on saving Naruto from whatever danger he was in, even if it meant disobeying the Council. Boarding the ship, she made herself familiar with the surroundings of it.

"Who are you?" She turned around and came face to face with one of the handmaidens. Siri narrowed her eyes, something in her gut was telling her that this one was bad news.

"Siri Tachi, Jedi Padawan. I am here to assist your Queen on this mission." Siri answered, better to keep her true mission known. The handmaiden raised an eyebrow.

"Really? I didn't expect the Jedi Council would need to send five Jedi to help my people." She said condescendingly, almost as if she was ungrateful towards the Jedi Order. Siri narrowed her eyes and gave the handmaiden a glare. This girl had just insulted the whole Jedi Order, in particular Naruto.

"I don't know what you think of the Order, but know that it is one of ours that was left behind on Naboo. It was one of ours who chose to stay behind while you all left. But I won't let you sit here and insult his sacrifice." Siri spoke angrily as her glare grew dangerous. No one insulted Naruto within her presences and got away with it.

"It is my people who are suffering, millions of people are suffering. They have all made sacrifices. The Jedi were too late to warn Naboo of the impending invasion, and chose to run rather than stand and fight. And while I am grateful for what you've done so far, but it still means little so long as the Federation occupies my home." The handmaiden fired back. Siri started to lift her hand -

"There you are! Come on, the Masters are waiting." Obi-Wan butted in, giving a nervous chuckle as he dragged the angered Padawan away. Once they were far away, he turned to face her, a frown on his face.

"What are you doing?" Obi-Wan questioned as Siri snorted.

"She insulted him and I won't stand for it." Siri stated as she turned on her heels and went to find a place to sit down and relax. Obi-Wan sighed. He just couldn't understand how she could just brazenly speak to her like that.

"Look, I care about Naruto as much as any Jedi, but you seriously need to reevaluate your feelings for him Siri or else I worry you might walk a dark path." Obi-Wan commented causing her to face him with a scowl.

"I don't care. He is the only one I care about and I'll be damned if I leave him to fend for himself." She stated as she left, leaving Obi-Wan in slight shock. She was very protective of Naruto. Far too much.

 **Naboo**

"Damn, it doesn't matter how many we destroy or how far we go, they just keep sending more!" Naruto complained as he and Gregar walked ahead of a group of resistance fighters, traveling through one of the thick forests of Naboo.

"There has to be nearly a million battle droids. Our forces are hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. We need the Gungan to aid us." Gregar stated as Naruto nodded. The Gungan had an army, an army that could be used to fight the Trade Federation.

"You really think that the Gungans will help? Last I heard, they don't like us surface dwelling lot." Naruto questioned as Gregar sighed.

"They are going to have to, or else their cities will fall to the Federation army as well." Gregar reasoned. The Gungan livid in hidden cities built in swamps and were quite hidden from the rest of the world. As the group of resistance fighters moved through the swamp, they began to get closer and closer to one of the cities location.

"Are you sure that the city is located here?" Gregar questioned as they stopped in-front of a swampy lake. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, the Masters said they had a huge city under this lake." Naruto stated as he took off his light brown Jedi robe and did some stretches.

"Guard this position, I'll be right back." Naruto stated as he took a deep breath and dived into the water. Gregar turned to his fighters and quickly formed a defensive perimeter around the area.

 **An Hour Later**

A full whole hour went by as nothing happened. Gregar and his group of fighters were still waiting for Naruto to come back, however as they waited the spotted movement in the bushes. Quickly leveling their weapons, they waited, however lowered their weapons as they noticed that it wasn't droids, but rather members of the Naboo security forces, along with Jedi's and a Gungan.

"Uncle!" Gregar confirmed as he spotted his uncle, Quarsh Panaka. Quarsh raised an eyebrow at him.

"What's going on here? What are you doing here?" He questioned as Gregar approached him.

"We are here with a Jedi to get help from the Gungan." Gregar answered as Siri approached the young resistance leader with a serious look on her face.

"A Jedi? Does he happen to have blond hair, blue eyes, and whiskers on his cheeks?" She questioned, with a determined and a concerned look on her face. Gregar blinked as he nodded.

"Yes, he has been leading the front lines in most of our battles. He's quite the swordsman and a very good saboteur as well." Gregar complemented as Siri smiled happily. Naruto was getting better by the day it seemed like. She shook her head and gave the leader of the resistance a serious glare.

"Where is he?" She questioned as Gregar gulped, she didn't look quite happy, no, more like angry. As he was about to answer, they heard a splash of water and some gasping for air. They turned their attention towards the lake as Naruto emerged from the lake, using his chakra infused hands to lift himself on top of the water that seemed to behave like solid ground.

"Damn, the whole city is abandoned." Naruto stated as he reached the shoreline.

"Naruto!" He heard a familiar voice as he looked up.

"Siri?" He questioned as she was upon him in mere moments. Her arms held him tightly and her face was plastered with joy.

"Thank the Force you're ok." She cried as she kept on hugging him. Naruto blushed in embarrassment as he also put his arms around her, not sure how to handle the situation. Siri pulled back a bit with a slight frown on her face.

"Don't you _**ever**_ do this to me again." She said as Naruto chuckled nervously as he nodded, not wanting to get on her bad side. While the two talked, the rest of the group talked amongst one another.

"If what Naruto says is true, then the Gungan must have gone into hiding." Qui-Gon stated as they all pondered where the Gungans must have gone. They needed their help, but with the Gungans in hiding, their job had become a tad more difficult. It was at this moment that Jar-Jar stated how the Gungan would often retreat to a sacred place to hide in times to great peril. With this new revelation, the group began to ready themselves for the small journey.

"I'm glad to see you're still alive." Padme spoke as she approached Naruto. Naruto raised an eyebrow as he nodded.

"Why wouldn't I be? I'm a Jedi!" Naruto proclaimed as she smiled a bit at the blonde's enthusiasm.

"Yes, you are a Jedi, but not even Jedi are immune to death." She stated as Naruto shook his head.

"There is no death, only the Force." He countered as she raised an eyebrow.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She questioned as Naruto hummed.

"The Force is all around us, it is what made us. Therefore, we return to it when we 'die'. That is why there is no death, only the Force." He elaborated as she slowly nodded, understanding the concept behind it.

"Well, I must take my leave. The Queen needs me." Padme stated with a smile as she began to leave, leaving Naruto to watch her retreating figure.

"I don't like her." He heard Siri's voice. Turning up towards her he raised an eyebrow.

"I think she's pretty fine." Naruto stated slyly as Siri scoffed. "And she cares about her people. She's just too emotional right now." Naruto reasoned as Siri folded her arms.

"I still don't like her." She proclaimed. A quick review of Naruto's words had suddenly made her realize what it was he exactly meant by 'fine' as younger blond chuckled and stood up.

"Naruto Uzumaki, you perverted little brat." Siri huffed, her cheeks turning red.

"Big brat, I'm as tall as you now." He retorted, head held high in triumph. At 5'7, Siri was barely an inch taller than the Blond teen at this point. "Well, I best be going. The resistance still needs some help." He stated as Siri stopped him by grabbing his shoulder.

"Oh no, you're staying with me! Wouldn't want you to get any ideas about a certain young handmaiden." A grin spread across her face as her voice turned sultry. "Am just an old lady to you now, Naru?" She teased him with the nickname given to him by a certain Togruta youngling.

Naruto, as he did every time she played this card, cringed at the thought of being with Siri in that way. She wasn't old or ugly by any measure. In fact, she was downright gorgeous. A blonde bombshell barely turned 23 to anyone else, but to him she was family. Despite what he had read in the strange books he got his hands on as a kid, family just doesn't do that kind of stuff.

"Why don't you go with him Siri, the resistance could use another Jedi." Plo Koon spoke up as he walked up the two. Naruto silently thanked his Master for bringing his mind out of the gutter.

"Ah, Master Plo Koon. I hope your journey went well." Naruto said warmly as Plo Koon nodded.

"Other than a small pit stop on a desert and another member to our party, everything went well. At least, as well as it could have gone." Plo Koon answered as questioned him who the new member was. Plo Koon explained that it was a slave boy, Anakin Skywalker, who was picked up by Qui-Gon after finding out that the boy had a rather strong connection with the Force.

"I see, well then. If Siri wants, she can come with me. We'll gather the rest of our forces and when you have the Gungan army ready we will meet again." Naruto stated as Plo Koon nodded and watched as the two went on their way with the resistance fighters. He sighed as his thoughts drifts to Naruto. The boy had become quite powerful on his own. He was sure that there was nothing else he needed to teach Naruto. He had proven himself, and Plo Koon was sure that, given a few years, Naruto would complete the Trials, become a Knight, and would one day make a fine Jedi Master.

 **A Few Days Later**

As it turns out, the Queen turned out to be the handmaiden Padme, and with humility, she had convinced the Gungan to help her people and drive the droid armies off Naboo. In the next coming days, the Gungan's had assembled a large army, readying themselves for the coming battle.

"The plan is simple, the Gungan army will draw the droid army out here to fight away from the capital, while we sneak into Theed and capture the leaders of the Federation and force them to end the invasion. With their capture and the droid control ship in orbit destroyed, the droids all over Naboo will shut down." Qui-Gon explained as everyone nodded.

"I'll be leading the fighter squadron to assault the Federation control ship. Master Qui-Gon and his apprentice will lead the Queen's group to Theed. Naruto, and by extension Siri, along with what Resistance soldiers we can spare, will aid the Gungan army to make it appear that our full force is there. I'm sure you two can handle it." Plo-Koon stated as Naruto and Siri nodded.

"You can count on us!" Naruto pointed at himself with a grin as Siri smacked the back of his head.

"Don't worry, I'll keep him out of trouble." She said as Naruto grumbled with Plo Koon chuckling at the two. Once Naruto heard that Qui-Gon had encountered a Sith Lord, he was eager to head to Theed, but Plo Koon's orders were absolute, and Naruto was simply not ready to battle a Sith Lord, or even a fallen Jedi. So him heading to Theed was out of the question. Despite his capability with machines and a lightsaber, Naruto wasn't the best of pilots. Certainly not near the level of his Master. The only real option option was to have him lead the Gungan Army, as their only other general was... well... Jar-Jar.

With the plan in place, the Gungan army began to move out with Naruto and Siri. As they formed their battle lines, the shields activated. Many droid transports and battle tanks emerged from the hilltop before came to a halt on high ground. The AATs began to open fire on the Gungan Army. Thankfully, the shields held as the Gungan's braced themselves. The droid carriers moved into position to deploy. However, some of them didn't as their programming had been sabotaged by Naruto during his time in Theed. Naruto grinned at the revelation.

"Hehe, that should actually lower their numbers a good bit." Naruto laughed at his handy work, watching the droids malfunction before one of the carriers suddenly exploded. Siri simply shook her head, but was also thankful that they wouldn't have to fight as many droids as they would have had to otherwise.

"Get ready." She sturdied herself. The sound of their march was terrifying for some of the Gungan's as the droids marched in perfect sync. Naruto could see the nervousness written all over the faces of the Gungan army and realized that they would panic and flee the moment things got too ugly. He wasn't needed as a soldier right now. He was needed as a leader and General. He quickly sat down and began to concentrate.

Naruto quickly felt a wave of exhaustion fall over him as he purged his body of most of his charka. The Force began to flow through him fully, allowing him to sense the surrounding battle with extreme clarity. All the life forms around him, and even the trace amounts of it found in the metal of the battle droids. As he tapped deeper and deeper into this infinite well of power, the Force around him swelled as well, allowing him to amplify it in all the lifeforms around him.

"What the?" Siri questioned as she felt a sudden uplifting sensation, her connection to the Force growing by the minute. She felt as if she could take on the whole galaxy and come out on top. The Gungans as well felt their resolve strengthen, their will to fight overshadowing their desire to flee. It was then that Naruto stood up, maintaining his connection with the Force.

"Naruto, is this your doing?" Siri questioned as Naruto nodded, a serious look on his face. She raised an eyebrow in response to his silence, wondering what was going on before her eyes widened.

"Is this?" Naruto again remained silent as the droids passed through the shields and began to fire upon the army of Gungan's. As they did, the normally bumbling Gungan army stood firm and fought back, throwing their weapons at the droid, fight with such ferocity and resistance that the first droid line began to falter. Captain Tarpals had ordered the shield beasts to retreat, moving their shield into a more defensible position and away from the droid carriers. In response, the AATs and droid transports moved forward with their advancing army to stay in range, further drawing them away from Theed and off the high ground.

Naruto let out a deep breath as he lifted his legs up into the air, crossing them as a faint distortion of the Force was visible around him. The levitating Naruto had submerged himself fully into the Force, completing his Battle Meditation.

 **In Orbit**

While the ground forces carried out their part of the plan, the starfighter pilots had reached the hanger and had took off, with Plo Koon taking the lead.

"Follow my lead." Plo Koon ordered as the pilots fell in line, returning fire as Vulture droid starfighters fired at them. Plo Koon returned fire as well and soon ordered the formation to break, thus scattering the Vulture droids. This allowed Plo Koon to pull of some maneuvers and down quite a lot of the droid fighters, saving many of the pilot's lives.

"Hey, who's piloting that one?" One of the pilots questioned, pointing at a straighter that was going in a straight line, like it was on autopilot. Plo Koon flew closer to the cockpit, narrowed his eyes, and sighed. It was that boy, Anakin Skywalker.

"I'll take care of him, destroy that ship." Plo Koon ordered as his fighter did a corkscrew to get behind Anakin's own, destroying several of the the Vulture droid that were behind the boy's craft, however, he found defending the boy to be a pain as the autopilot kept him flying straight!

Anakin suddenly seemed to gain control of his craft and suddenly move his fighter in to a spinning motion. Just as Plo Koon was ready to back off, Anakin's fighter was suddenly hit and he was sent spinning into the main hangar. It wasn't long before the Vulture droids had turned their attention and were swarming Plo Koon's fighter.

"This doesn't look–" He didn't get to finish as he fighter shook, with the right engine exploding, causing his fighter to fly into a tailspin, careening straight towards the planet's surface.

 **Naboo Plains**

Siri quickly reignited her saber, destroying the battle droids aiming at Naruto, sending attacks back at the droids and Force based attacks. As she defended Naruto, the droids could destroy the shield generators, causing the shields to fall, however, it didn't matter as Naruto's Battle Mediation was still going strong, and the shield-bearing Gungan warriors formed makeshift barriers for the rest of their army.

"Cover him!" Siri yelled as a few Gungan's ran up and formed a shield to defend Naruto while he was in his meditative stance. Siri quickly ran towards one of the AATs that had been forced out of position by the Gungan Army's constant retreat. Leaping aboard the tank, she crawled atop tanks turret as the droid looked at her.

"Hey! You're not authorized to be here!" The droid stated as Siri smirked before he cut down the droid.

"I think I am." She said, entering, and cutting down the crew, and taking control of the tank. With the tank under her control, she began to fire upon the other tanks. It wasn't long before a Resistance fighter jumped in as well, taking control of the turret and began to fire at the droid tanks. However, as the Gungan army stood firm, the droid army suddenly ceased all operations and shut down. Naruto opened his eyes as he blinked, looking at the fallen droids before it dawned on him.

"They destroyed the command ship." He said to himself as he stood up, and witnessed the Gungan's cheer over the victory. Naruto started to grin in victory, but suddenly he had a bad feeling about all this. Something was wrong.

"You ok Naruto?" Siri questioned as she stepped next to him, seeing him stop for a second. Naruto shook his head as he frowned.

"No, something doesn't feel right…" He wondered as she raised an eyebrow. Whatever it was, they would deal with it later. They had to meet up with Qui-Gon and the Queen in Theed as soon as possible. The Viceroy and that Sith Lord were still a threat.

 **Near Theed**

"This does not look good…" Naruto stated as he and Siri observed as the Naboo security team started to pull two N1 starfighters that had crashed into a nearby swamp. As of yet, no one knew who the pilots were, as they had lost so many pilots, but as the fighter was pulled out of the swamp and the cockpit came into view, the pilot inside was dead, having either died in the crash or drowned in the swamp.

"We can't do anything, let them handle it." She spoke as Naruto closed his eyes and looked back at the other starfighter.

"By the Force…" Naruto muttered as they pulled the half-buried fighter from one of the swamps nearby the city. It was badly damaged, with the cockpit compromised, one of its engine completely missing, and the its exterior completely singed from rough the reentry. The starfighter had been hit hard, but the life support systems were still intact.

"Dammit, can't believe that he almost died saving that kid." A pilot that had survived the space battle spoke as he helped with the recovery. Naruto overheard the conversation and growled.

A Naboo security guard shouted out as he and his fellow comrade pulled out the pilot out, Naruto moved forward to see none other than his master, Plo Koon, pulled from the cockpit. He jumped down, Siri wouldn't be stopping him this time. Looking back, she shook her head. Naruto gasped as he witnessed the injury his Master had sustained. His right side was completely burned. His breathing mask was greatly damaged and it was clearly that he was not conscious. Naruto looked away, not wanting to see as his Master was taken away by the medics to be treated, if he was even still alive.

"He's going to be ok." Siri reassured him as he nodded, although with little enthusiasm. He could only hope that his Master would come out alive from this. However, he threw a light glare towards the boy, Anakin. It was because of that foolish boy that his Master was in such a state. His Master was forced to defend the child who had somehow ended up in a starfighter and had almost gotten himself killed.

Shaking his head, he began to follow the medics. Now was not the time for this.

 **Theed Palace Courtyard, Naboo**

The celebrations were in full swing with the droid armies now destroyed and the Trade Federation being driven off of Naboo, forced to pay extensive reparations and meet the senate's demands. However, not everyone was happy. Obi-Wan had lost his Master to the Sith he had later sliced clean in half, while Naruto's Master, Plo-Koon, was greatly injured during the space battle above.

With his Master out of commission, another Master would be needed to take over Naruto's training and supervise him on missions for quite a while.

"Master Shaak Ti, will train you. As has she before." Yoda spoke as Naruto smiled a bit, he had trained under Shaak Ti before and he was glad that it was her would be training him again. With a bow, Naruto stood back, allowing Yoda to turn his attention to Obi-Wan.

"Confer on you the level of Jedi Knight, the Council does. But, agree with you taking this boy as your Padawan learner, _**I**_ do not." Yoda firmly stated his opposition to Skywalker becoming a Jedi.

"Qui-Gon believed in him." Obi-Wan retorted.

"The Chosen One, the boy may be. Nevertheless, _grave_ danger I fear in his training." Yoda expressed the same concerns he had a few days before with Obi-Wan's recently deceased Master.

"Master Yoda, I gave Qui-Gon my word. I _will_ train Anakin." Obi-Wan remained stalwart in his oath to Qui-Gon. "Without the approval of the Council if I must." He added.

"Qui-Gon's defiance I sense within you. Need that you do not." Yoda huffed. "Agree with you the Council does. Your apprentice, young Skywalker will be." Yoda confirmed.

"Thank you, Master Yoda." Obi-Wan said with a bow as he stepped back. The last in line was Siri. Yoda walked up to her as she looked anywhere but at Yoda.

"Came to Naboo, you did, but ask or inform the Council you did not." Yoda started as Siri sighed.

"If I had asked, you would never had allowed me to go. You would have tried to stop me." Siri stated as Yoda nodded.

"True this is, but so is it true that you left without permission. Later will the Council decide your punishment. But fear expulsion, you should not." Yoda said, relaxing her a great deal, but she knew that the council wouldn't be so forgiving the next time she pulled a stunt like this. With this business dealt with, the three were dismissed, with Obi-Wan leaving to talk to Anakin, and Naruto and Siri leaving to observe the parade.

"You gonna be ok?" Siri questioned as Naruto sighed as he overlooked the celebration from a balcony.

"I don't know…" He answered as she laid a hand on his shoulders.

"Don't worry, Master Plo Koon will be fine. He'll wake up soon enough" She stated as Naruto nodded, turning to face the fireworks as stunt craft flew overhead. The night was young and the people would celebrate till sunrise. Ushering in a new age of peace and cooperation for the inhabitants of Naboo.

 _'But at what cost?'_ Naruto pondered.

 **Good? Bad? Like and review! I hope you all enjoyed this and I hope you will stick around for more of it. Also, THE PAIRINGS ARE LOCKED IN! They will not be changed, no adding or subtracting. I'm sorry, but this is what I had in the last story and this is what I will stick with. Trust me, something far more traumatic will happen to Naruto then Padme simply cheating on him. You will love it, or some of you might hate it, but it will be worth it. With that said, I hope you all have a great day, bye!**


	8. Breadcrumbs

**Hello, my loyal readers and writers alike! Look what I got here for you! That's right! A Chapter that is close to 9,000 words! I wish I could use Vegeta's over 9,000 comments, but oh well, another day! Anyways, I am truly happy that you all like this story and I shall keep updating it every Monday or Sunday most likely. Also, people please know that the pairings are LOCKED. No one will be added, and no one will be taken out! Period! End! Done! I know you all want me to add more, but that will not be happening in this story, sorry. With that out of the way, I hope you all enjoy it!**

 **Five Years Later**

Naruto sighed as he stood silent in the medical wing the Jedi Temple. How long had it been since the Invasion of Naboo? Ever since then, Naruto had been slightly depressed. His Master had miraculously survived a crash landing from orbit above Naboo, but he had been in a coma ever since. Meanwhile he was training with Master Shaak Ti. It was quite a new experience, given that he had only trained with her briefly in the past.

Of all these differences, one stood out above the rest. Namely that Shaak Ti was a devoted practitioner of Ataru unlike his former Master. His many lessons over the years in the form had given him a solid foundation that Shaak Ti was able to finally perfect. Naruto was considered a master of Form IV Ataru. Possibly second only to Master Yoda himself. Combined with his skills in Form V and Form II, he was now considered one of the better duelists in the Order among both Padawans and Knights. His style relied on a series of relentless acrobatic attacks that gradually whittled his opponent down. These attacks combined the finesse of Form II and the counterattacking nature of Form V into his acrobatic leaps over and around his foe. When it came to a lightsaber, Naruto was second to no other Padawan.

The blond, nearing the end of his teenage years, had cut most of his hair short, apart from the thin Padawan braid that hung down from the right side of his head. He had forgone his standard Jedi clothes for rather a simple white shirt and pants he wore under his coat. He kept the brown boots and belt, however. He also wore a pocket bandolier over his right shoulder. On his belt, he had also bore a shiny new blaster pistol. Obi-Wan had lost his lightsaber in the battle with Darth Maul, and so Naruto decided long ago to add another weapon to his arsenal, so the same thing never happened to him. His first instinct was to build another lightsaber, and he had learned the dual wielding form of Ataru, but something just felt wrong, and so he returned the practice saber and bought a DT-93 heavy pistol. He hadn't necessarily _needed_ it yet, but it still proved useful sometimes. On top of that, he was pretty handy with the thing.

Naruto overlooked his comatose Master in a special pod that simulated the atmosphere of his homeworld, so he did not require a breath mask. The hiss of the automated door opening interrupted Naruto's somber mood.

"Naruto, we're late." Master Shaak Ti spoke sternly as she entered the room. He chuckled nervously as he approached her.

"Sorry Master. I was, well, you know." Naruto answered as she nodded in understanding before making him take a seat.

"I understand how you feel, but Master Plo Koon will awaken soon. You must have faith in him, and the Force." She reassured him as Naruto nodded, he knew that his Master would pull through, he had endured worse, but what irritated him most was that he was still so helpless to aid him. Seeing that his concerns were put to rest, she closed her eyes.

"How has your training been going?" Shaak Ti questioned. Usually, she would train him in his bladework, or find him his much-loved books on battle tactics and strategies. However, Naruto had begun to develop skills regarding the Force on his own.

"Well, I have been able to move while performing Battle Meditation..." He began.

"I'm sensing a 'but' here." She sensed he was hiding something and Naruto relented.

"But I'm completely cut off from my Chakra while using it. It requires too much focus for me to channel chakra and the technique at the same time. So, I can't move nearly as fast. And using the Force for anything else but the technique is impossible." Naruto replied with a frown as Shaak Ti raised an eyebrow.

"And how is this bad?" She asked. She knew why, but everything you did or said was a learning experience when you were training under Master Shaak Ti.

"While everyone else around me is able to fight the good fight, I can only use my strength and skills as a human being. Not as a Jedi, not even as a former ninja in-training. I can still use my lightsaber of course, but I can barely deflect blaster fire. I have to rely entirely on my eyes. I don't think I'll ever get to a point where I can use my other Force abilities, or even my chakra while using it." Naruto tried to explain as best as he could. Shaak Ti smiled at his determination.

"Is that why you've taken to carrying a blaster? I am sure that, in time, you will find the inner peace that allows the Force to flow through you freely, even when you're using everything you have on your Battle Meditation. But for now, let us focus on regular meditation. You should hopefully never need to use that ability ever again. The days of Galactic War have been over for a millennium." She replied as Naruto took in a deep breath as he began to meditate. Meditation had been another key aspect of his training under Shaak Ti. It allowed him to be calm, to see possible visions of the future and to further deepen his connection to the Force. As such, the chaotic days of the Padawan's pranking were over.

 **A Couple Weeks Later**

"Council this, council that…" Naruto mumbled as Shaak Ti slightly chuckled at Naruto's behavior. The Council had called specifically for Naruto for a meeting. It seemed like Naruto was quite the talk amongst the council these days, given his recent and past achievements. Shaak Ti even believed him to be almost ready for the trials. The two quickly made their way to the council chambers as the doors opened, allowing them to walk in.

"Thank you for coming on such a short notice, Padawan Uzumaki." Mace Windu started as Shaak Ti moved to sit in her chair, leaving Naruto at the center.

"Well, when the council calls, the council calls." Naruto replied as Shaak Ti chuckled at the blonde's attitude towards the meetings. After 11 years of him being in the order, most of the masters had simply grown to ignore the boy's casual disregard to council meetings. They somehow managed to shake their heads using only their eyes.

"Moving on, one of the Senators has approached the Jedi Order for help." Kit Fisto started, breaking the stare tension in the room.

"Our help? Who is this Senator?" Shaak Ti questioned, wondering what was it this time that the Jedi had to be involved in.

"The Senator is Ohi Ruu from the Pantora system. He claims that his life is under threat from a rivaling faction within Pantora." Mace Windu stated as Naruto blinked at that.

"Why does this remind me of the Mandalorian Civil War?" Naruto muttered out as Yoda shook his head.

"A civil war, this is not. These groups, working in the shadows they are." Yoda stated as many of the Masters nodded. The Jedi's were no strangers to underground elements, as the Sith had apparently been working in the shadows themselves for over a millennium. Even now, one of the Dark Lords worked in the shadows to orchestrate the events on Naboo. The death of Darth Maul had confirmed that the Sith were in-fact not as dead as the Jedi's had assumed.

"Your mission is to protect the senator and his understudy." Mace assigned them the mission as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"So, it's a protection detail mission?" Naruto questioned as Mace Windu nodded.

"Yes, but this is also an investigation. Master Shaak Ti and yourself will be assigned as official Republic investigators to protect and serve under the Senator and his intern." Oppo Rancisis stated as both Master and Padawan looked at him with a mix of confusion and surprise. Oppo Rancisis might have been a stingy old bastard, but he knew talent when he saw it. Whatever Naruto Uzumaki's shortcomings were regarding the Jedi Code, he made up for it by being a damned good Jedi nonetheless.

"Two questions, why me? Surely there are others that are more qualified for this mission. And second, I already have an active assignment, protecting the Queen of Naboo." Naruto questioned. Over the last four years, Naruto had been assigned to protect the Queen of Naboo here and there from other threats that might befall on her, including retaliation from the Trade Federation, who had somehow managed to vindicate Nute Gunray. The Jedi Council thought that it would be best that Naruto be given such a task, given that he was already accustomed to protection detail.

"Not everyone has fought in two conflicts of such scale and length in as short amount of time as you have. Although still young, your experience is invaluable regarding this mission. Master Kenobi is the only other Jedi with similar experience, but he is busy teaching his Padawan, Skywalker. I'm sure you will do just fine, if not better." Kit Fisto answered Naruto slowly nodded.

"As for your other assignment, we have deemed that the active danger to the Queen has passed, and that assignment will be put on temporary hold. We have other Jedi that can take over should the need arise." Mace Windu stated as Naruto silently crushed, and just when he was getting to know Padme a bit more intimately as well.

"Gather all the things you deem necessary and meet me in the hangar. We leave today." Shaak Ti instructed Naruto, who nodded and ran off to gather his belongings.

 **Jedi Temple Dormitories**

As he approached his room, he spotted a familiar figure standing outside his room.

"Siri?" He spoke as she turned to look at him with a smile.

"Naruto, I was wondering where you've been." She spoke as Naruto stopped in front of her with a raised eyebrow. Now in her mid-20s, Siri's hair was no longer tied back into a ponytail, but was free flowing and shoulder length. The change in hairstyle came with the removal of her Padawan braid a year ago. She was a Jedi Knight now.

"Did you need something?" He questioned her as he opened the door of his room, allowing for him to enter with Siri following.

"Nah, I was just seeing if you wanted to hang out, practice your saber work or something?" Siri answered as Naruto shook his head as he began to gather whatever he needed.

"Sorry, but that's gonna have to wait." He said as she raised an eyebrow, what was that supposed to mean? Naruto sighed and decided to elaborator.

"The Council have assigned me and Master Shaak Ti a mission that could last a whole year." Naruto said as Siri's eyebrow twitched. Why did they choose Naruto again, after everything he had been though?

"The Council should have chosen someone else." She spoke as she pouted. Naruto nervously chuckled at her attitude as he stood up.

"Well, no fighting it now. Master Shaak Ti is waiting for me at the hangar. Want to see us off?" Naruto questioned as she grinned at him.

"You bet." She said as she began to follow the blond to the hangar.

"I just can't believe that the Council is sending you into another dangerous mission right after the last one." Siri voiced her concerns as Naruto sighed, remembering the whole debacle on Nar Shaddaa.

"They picked me specifically for my skills and experience. I'll be fine." Naruto stated as Siri frowned.

"The last time you told me that, you ended stranded on a hostile planet filled with battle droids." She countered as Naruto blushed in embracement.

"Yeah, but I was fine!" He replied as Siri ruffled his hair.

"But you were in trouble." She fired back as Naruto pouted, swatting her hand away.

"Not my fault if trouble finds me." He said with a sigh as the two finally reached the hangar where Master Shaak Ti was waiting. Shaak Ti noticed the two walking in and gave them a smile.

"I see that you're here to see him off?" Shaak Ti questioned as Siri nodded.

"What kind of sister would I be if I didn't see my brother off?" She gave Naruto a quick goodbye kiss on the check. Naruto simply grumbled and boarded the ship, leaving the two-amused female Jedi with one another. Siri's expression then turned serious as she faced Shaak Ti.

"Master Shaak Ti, I only ask of you that you keep Naruto safe." Siri requested with a bow as Shaak Ti looked at the Padawan with a small smile.

"Of course, I will. You still have quite the attachment with him, no?" She questioned as Siri nodded with determination.

"Yes, and I wouldn't ever break the bond we have, even if the Order demanded me too." Siri responded, already stating her answer. Shaak Ti shook her head.

"You are mistaken. I would not want you to break your bond with young Naruto. He is a special boy. His emotions make him strong, yet he is never tempted by the whispers of the Dark Side. That and he changes the people he has met, for example, you, Master Plo Koon, Master Kit Fisto, and to an extent, me." Shaak Ti stated, much to Siri's surprise. Shaak Ti had trained Naruto for a few months in the past and unknowingly had also created a bond with the blond boy.

"In fact, I'm more worried that he's a danger to himself. His strong emotions have turned into a quiet strength, but I fear if he's ever angered enough..." Shaak Ti added solemnly.

"I see…" Siri responded as Shaak Ti laid a hand on her shoulder, causing Siri to look up at her.

"Rest assured, Naruto will be safe. I'll keep him out of trouble." Shaak Ti reassured as she turned around and boarded the ship. It wasn't long before the vessel started to float up and shot out of the hangar, heading to the Pantora system. Siri could only hope that Shaak Ti could keep her word, but then she began to giggle.

"Who is she kidding, he always gets in trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if bounty hunters blasted their way into the senator's office as soon as he entered." She said to herself as she turned on her heel and left the hangar, maybe she would work on her Form IV so that the next time she dueled with Naruto, she could surprise him with some of his own tricks.

 **A Few Hours Later**

The journey to the Pantora system was a long one, given the location of the system. As the ship landed on the moon of Pantora, the chilling winds of the planet greeted Naruto. He shivered at bit as he followed Shaak Ti off the ramp of the ship as they were greeted by a few Pantoran guardsmen.

"Ah, Master Jedi, my name is Ohi Ruu, the current Senator of Pantora." A tall blue skinned man with golden markings introduced himself as Shaak Ti bowed.

"Greetings. I am Master Shaak Ti of the Jedi Order and this is Naruto Uzumaki, my Padawan learner." She introduced herself and Naruto, who bowed slightly as well. As Naruto bowed, he noticed a young girl, still in her mid teens, a few steps behind the Senator. The Senator seemed to have taken notice of his gaze as he turned to the female Pantoran.

"Ah! Forgive me, but this is Riyo Chuchi, my understudy, intern, and hopefully one day, an accomplished politician." The Pantoran Senator introduced her with a chuckle as the now named Riyo Chuchi was gently pushed in front of Ruu and bowed before the two Jedi. The group began to head into a building, away from the chilling winds of the outside.

"I thank you Master Jedi for coming on such short notice, but the situation isn't good. There have already been a few assassination attempts on my life, and sadly on Chuchi's as well. She was rather lucky to survive the last one." The Senator stated as they entered his office. Once they did, the Senator took a seat behind his desk as the guardsmen stood at attention, flanking him.

"As you are aware Master Jedi, my life, as well as the lives of those who've worked with me in the past, is in grave danger." The Ohi started as Shaak Ti nodded, she was debriefed on the little details on her way her by the Council.

"Yes, however, the problem is that we don't know who it is that wants you dead." Shaak Ti stated as she sat down, Naruto doing the same next to her.

"Indeed. There are many factions here on Pantora, many who think it's best that Pantora leave the Republic all together, others want to return the government into the monarchy it once was. There are simply too many political entities within Pantora to even start calling out names. We are a world divided, to say the least." Ohi said with a sigh as Naruto rolled his eyes, politics, he hated politics. Mostly because he didn't understand a word of it.

"Perhaps we should begin by interrogating the ones that have actively opposed you in the past?" Shaak Ti questioned as Ohi nodded.

"I would have done so myself, but I am a Senator, I have no real power within the Parliament. Only the Chief Justice can subpoena any of them for questioning or testimony." Ohi responded, explain just what kind of situation he was in.

"That's why you requested Jedi aid." Naruto blurted out as the Senator nodded.

"There is nothing that says I cannot ask the Jedi to intervene. It is my hopes that the Jedi's will be able to uncover who it is that is after my life and those that associate with me." Ohi revealed the truth as Shaak Ti frowned.

"If we are to protect you while also hunting those that are trying to kill you, then more Jedi Knights will be required." Shaak Ti stated, this was a mission that required more than just two Jedi. Some would have to protect those in danger at all time, while others would need to find the killers.

"W-With all due respect Master Jedi, having too many of you around might cause those after the senator's life to be on guard. They will restrict their movements until such time has passed when the Jedi are gone." It was Chuchi who spoke up, speaking softly and timidly as Ohi smiled as bit. She was such a shy girl with big dreams. Shaak Ti hummed, understanding the logic of the girl. Whoever it was that was trying to kill the Senator, they wouldn't be stupid.

"Very well, if that is the case, then I shall guard you, Senator and my Padawan will guard your understudy. We'll do our best find out who it is exactly that is trying to kill you and for what reason. Rest assured Senator, you and your friends are safe under the protection of the Jedi." Shaak Ti said with a smile as the Senator stood up and bowed.

"I thank you Master Jedi. To be honest, it isn't my life I am concerned about, but of those who have known me. It is their lives that are one the line here." Ohi responded, while grateful, the old politician cared more those who had worked for him.

"Rest assure Senator, you're in safe hands." Shaak Ti said as the Senator once again bowed and began to leave, with Shaak Ti following close behind as the guardsmen followed the Senator. Naruto meanwhile was walking beside the understudy, Chuchi.

"So, what's it like being a _political_ understudy?" Naruto questioned, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"W-what?" Chuchi blushed slightly as she glanced up at him. If this were the Naruto from a few years ago, they would've been the same height. But Naruto was a full-grown man now, standing a little over 5'11, and Chuchi noted that he was quite handsome up close.

"Well, I'm a Jedi Padawan. So, I guess you could say I'm Master Shaak Ti's _Jedi_ understudy." He rationalized.

"W-Well, it can get hectic at times, but it is also fun." She answered as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"You call paperwork fun?" Naruto questioned with a grunt as Chuchi giggled at his reaction.

"I get to learn about politics." Chuchi stated as Naruto blinked before he remembered something.

"Oh yeah! I remember the Senator said you wanted to become a politician." Naruto said as Chuchi nodded, but her mood had changed a bit. She seemed a bit…depressed.

"Yes…" She answered as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Eh, is it something I said?" He questioned as Chuchi shook her head.

"No…it's just that my parents used to be politicians." She answered, looking down at the floor as the two walked on.

"What happened to them?" Naruto questioned, though his gut already knew the answer.

"They were killed by a faction that they angered too much…" Chuchi answered as Naruto fell silent. She was an orphan, like him. However, what confused him was that she wanted to become the very thing that had caused her parents death.

"I know what you think, that I am foolish for trying to become one after what happened to my parents." Chuchi spoke, tears gathering at the edges of her eyes. Naruto shook his head and gave her his famous fox like grin.

"I think you're pretty brave for following your dreams, even knowing the dangers." Naruto stated as Chuchi blushed heavily this time, not used to getting compliments, from someone as handsome as Naruto.

 _"Handsome and kind…he'd make a great husband someday."_ She thought as she stared at the blond. She blushed as she shook her head. He was a Jedi. They weren't allowed to form attachments or have romantic relationships. Besides she was too old for him... at least for the time being... Maybe when she was older? _"No! Stupid! Stupid!"_ She berated herself. This was just one of those fleeting crushes, right?

"Looks like we're there." Naruto's voice broke her out of her day dreaming as they stood in front of Chuchi's quarters. Chuchi nodded, quickly opening the door and inviting Naruto in. Chuchi quickly headed to her desk and started to do some paper work and some investigation, mostly to distract her mind from the blond.

"Wow, you're really smart, you know?" Naruto praised her as he observed some of the work she was doing. This was some high level political paperwork she was dealing with. Some of the things he was seeing escaped his own mind as he tried to comprehend it.

"T-Thank you." Chuchi responded with a blush as she tried to focus on her work, but Naruto was making it extremely difficult for that to happen. However, it seemed like Naruto had found something to occupy himself with. She glanced at him as he shifted through some data pads, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Hey, Chuchi, you got any ideas on who this faction targeting the Senator might be?" Naruto questioned as Chuchi raised an eyebrow.

"Like?" She questioned as Naruto shrugged, pointing at one of the data pads.

"Like the Royalist Faction?" Naruto suggested as Chuchi hummed.

"The Royalist Faction have a clear majority in the parliament and have quite the influence. I don't think they need to remove the Senator since they can do that with an easy Vote of No Confidence." She stated as Naruto went through another data pad.

"What about the Isolationists?" He questioned as Chuchi grabbed the data pad and went over the information.

"That is likely since they are quite unpopular. Not many want Pantora to end all trade with the Republic. But then again, they haven't used violence like some other factions." Chuchi stated as Naruto groaned in frustration. He sat down on one of the chairs and sighed.

"This is going to be harder than I thought." Naruto grunted as Chuchi giggled at his antics.

"We have plenty of time to figure who it is. Besides, there are many political factions on Pantora." Chuchi stated. Naruto nodded at that, there were indeed many factions, some violent, others not so much. He yawned as he started to close his eyes.

"I'll be right here if you need anything." Naruto mumbled as he started drifted off to sleep. Chuchi nodded as she returned to her work, knowing that her bodyguard would be here to defend her the minute there was trouble. That made her blush a bit. Here she was, in her quarters, with a handsome blond Jedi who acted nothing like a Jedi. Perhaps everything would turn out alright.

 **Four Months Later**

A few months had gone by and the Jedi were still no closer to finding the faction that wanted Ohi Ruu dead than before. It seemed that just the mere presence of the Jedi was enough to scare the unknown faction into halting all hostility. This was good for the Senator, whose life was no longer in danger with the assassination attempts halting, but for the two Jedi it was all the worse. Finding the would-be assassins had become utterly impossible.

"We have conducted background checks on all the factions, their members, their ties, contacts and so on. Yet we have been unable to find anything." Shaak Ti spoke to Naruto as the two observed the skyline of Pantora's Capital outside of the Senator's office.

"We are running out of time. If we can't find anything soon, the Council will eventually call us back to leave your protection to local security. And then they can once again target the Senator and Chuchi." Naruto responded as Shaak Ti nodded. The two had done everything possible within their authority and mission parameters. They tailed key members of each faction, spied on countless meetings, and even at one point compelled some by the Force to answer their questions, yet nothing ever came of it. Naruto even tried to lure them out by having a low security celebration for Chuchi, whose birthday he found was only a few galactic days before his. The blond sighed in defeat for the tenth time today. Shooting at a womp rat was an easier assignment than this.

"By the Force, why can't it be just simple?!" Naruto groaned in frustration as Shaak Ti frowned at his behavior before something struck her.

"Simple…" She whispered as she pulled out a data pad and began to go through the information she had gathered on the factions on Pantora, just then, Chuchi walked out of her office, a hopeful look on her face.

"Master Jedi, I believe I have something that you might find interesting." Chuchi said as Naruto raised an eyebrow with Shaak Ti nodding, following the understudy into her officer. Once inside, Chuchi dimmed the lights a bit as a hologram appeared in the center of the room, showing some charts and such.

"I was going through some information and I found something that doesn't make any sense." She started as she pressed a few buttons, causing the charts to shift.

"This is the city's budget, no?" Shaak Ti questioned as Chuchi nodded.

"Yes. The city's budget is planned and approved by the parliament every year. However, as you can see, the city budget is missing some funds." Chuchi responded, pressing another set of buttons, revealing some numbers and so on.

"That many accounts?" Naruto questioned, watching the list go on.

"Under normal circumstances, taking out funds from the annual budget is common to ensure that the government keeps operation normally, however, the _number_ of accounts withdrawing money is unusually high. They each aren't taking out an amount that would be noticeable, but as a collective they are talking out a big chunk of change." Chuchi explained as Naruto nodded in understanding. Someone was taking money out of the budget.

"Then it must be more than one faction that is after the Senator's life if there are so many accounts are embezzling the money." Shaak Ti concluded, it wouldn't make sense for some faction to use public funds to assassinate a politician.

"It makes sense. Some of the bounty hunters that had tried to assassinate the Senator are quite expensive to hire. If any one faction were to use their own resources to hire them, then the drastic change of their wealth would become noticeable. By using the budget, they keep that wealth and remain undetected." Chuchi explained as Naruto blinked at that.

"Wow, you're really smart, you know that?" Naruto complimented her as she blushed and thanked him.

"A-Anyways, the problem lies within the account holders, they are unknown, or rather...fake." Chuchi stated as Shaak Ti raise an eyebrow.

"Fake?" Shaak Ti asked as she observed the charts.

"Yes, fake. The names are sometimes comical. Someone behind this must have significant influence over the banks in order to allow people like 'Lefte Hande' to create government accounts. Then, a few hours later, the accounts are closed." Chuchi surmised.

"Then by freezing these accounts and by monitoring the budget of the city and other public funds, we can force them to use their own funds and force them out of hiding." Shaak Ti stated as Chuchi nodded. Naruto grinned at that.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Naruto questioned, eager for a fight. Shaak Ti shook her head, he enjoyed fighting far too much.

"I have informed the Senator of this and he has already begun the process." Chuchi responded as Naruto became even more eager.

"Good, however, there is something I have just discovered." Shaak Ti stated as she held up the data pad, allowing Chuchi to grab it and read what Shaak Ti had found.

"I was looking at the usual behavior of each factions prior to our arrival. Things like their rivals, friends, influence and so on. I must have missed this, but one faction has unusually changed their behavior over the last few months, just Naruto and I landed." Shaak Ti started as Chuchi blinked.

"The Neutralist faction?" Chuchi questioned. The hardline faction that sought to leave the Republic was formed three years ago in response to the Republic's increasingly stricter policies regarding trade, taxes, weapons, borders, and so on. While it was somewhat popular on Pantora, particularly among the elders, it still wasn't all that influential.

"I have noticed that the Neutralists have quite close ties with the Techno Union on Skako Minor." Shaak Ti stated as Naruto sighed, all this political talk was really getting annoying for him.

"Oh great...Uhh, what does the Techno Union have to do with this?" He questioned as Shaak Ti giggled at his annoyance.

"The Techno Union is a commerce guild, a big one at that too, but like Naruto questioned, what do they have to do with it?" Chuchi questioned, she knew somewhat of the Techno Union, but not enough.

"The Techno Union is made up of technology firms, they are the premier supplier of various Droids across the Galaxy and you Naruto are quite familiar with one of their flagship Droids." Shaak Ti stated, causing Naruto to blink and point to himself.

"I am?" He questioned as she nodded, pressing a few buttons, and bringing up the hologram of a B1 Battle Droid.

"Wait, they made the B1?" Naruto questioned as Shaak Ti nodded.

"Only designed it, really. It's manufactured by the Baktoid company on Geonosis." Shaak Ti answered, but Chuchi still didn't understand what this all meant. Shaak Ti pulled up other holograms, bringing out the galactic map.

"The Techno Union has close relations with the Trade Federation, and like the Trade Federation, they have been hit hard with the Republics new laws and taxes. The Republic's laws take less of an effect on the two corporations if they operate in space that is friendly towards them." Shaak Ti stated as Chuchi now understood where Shaak Ti was going with this.

"And the Techno Union, along with the Trade Federation, have a lot to gain if Pantora becomes more favorable towards them." Chuchi stated, realizing what Shaak Ti was trying to get to.

"Indeed, it also helps then considering that Pantora lies is the Outer Rim." Shaak Ti stated as Chuchi sighed and sat down in her chair, this was bigger than she had assumed.

"So, the Neutralists are paying the Techno Union, who in turn are sending bounty hunters, mercenaries, and all kinds of pirate scum to try and kill the Senator?" Naruto questioned as Shaak Ti nodded, it seems like Naruto did pay attention to some of her lessons. Slamming his hand on the desk, Naruto looked up with determination.

"Then we need to arrest the Neutralists!" He proclaimed as Chuchi shook her head.

"All of this is speculative right now, we can't arrest them without evidence. We don't even know their motive." Chuchi stated as Naruto sighed, politics was too much of a hassle for him sometimes.

"The senator isn't a Neutralist. They probably want him dead, so they can put one of their own in charge." Naruto said. "It's simple politics that even I understand."

"That still doesn't make sense. The Neutralists are a minority, whose only real political allies are the Iso-" Chuchi stopped mid-sentence her mouth agape.

"The Isolationists..." Shaak Ti finished. "They're a bit more extreme, but it stands to reason that they'd be willing to compromise with the Neutralists."

"But they're both minorities in the parliament, aren't they? Even if they're growing, at most they'd get ten percent of the vote. The Royalists and the Liberals are the two major parties. They'd need the backing of one of them to come close to a majority." Naruto had unwittingly just solved the entire mystery.

"That's it! That's everything! Omund Tor of the Royalist faction is the CEO of the Pantoran Royal Bank." Chuchi exclaimed. "It'd be a cakewalk for him to create fake accounts hidden from their servers, transfer money to them, pay the bounty hunters, and then delete the account all on the same day."

"Then the Royalists must have cut a deal with the Neutralists as well. Probably to restore the monarchy." Shaak Ti presumed. "But even so, that only gives them a slight majority. The rest of the Parliament would surely veto any measure to install a Senator with separation from the Republic as a key platform."

"Well, there were about a dozen accounts opened each day, right? But the money doesn't add up. They could've hired so many assassins than what you've had to deal with. Maybe some of the other members of parliament are being paid off." Naruto postulated.

"Naruto, you're a genius!" Chuchi was suddenly ecstatic.

"I am?" Naruto blinked. "I mean, of course I am." He said proudly, having no idea what Chuchi meant.

"I thought it was suspicious that Congressman Potan's wife had such a nice new collection of jewelry." Chuchi continued. "We can ask the Senator to subpoena the banks in order to track the accounts in reverse." As she went to work on her datapad, a few Guardsmen rushed through the door.

"Come quick! I think the Senator has been poisoned!" One of the Guardsmen proclaimed as Naruto and Chuchi looked at the Guardsmen with wide eyes, while Shaak Ti frowned. It seemed like their target was changing tactics.

 **In the Hospital**

"The good news is the Senator is alive, but we don't know when he will wake up. If he ever does..." The head doctor at the hospital stated. After the Senator was poisoned, he was hurried to the hospital and had fallen into a coma. With his entire staff of guardsmen locking down the area around the hospital, no one who wasn't authorized would be able to get in.

"I suppose that is quite good news." Shaak Ti commented as the doctor nodded before he headed back in to monitor the Senator. Shaak Ti then turned to Chuchi.

"We have to get you to safety first." Shaak Ti said as Chuchi nodded, knowing why.

"Why is that?" Naruto questioned, not knowing much about the Pantoran government or laws.

"Representative Auei Hazehn was killed shortly before we arrived. The Senator was still the process of choosing her successor. As such, Chuchi, as his understudy, Chuchi must act as the temporary Senator of Pantora due to Ohi Ruu being incapacitated." Shaak Ti answered, earning a whistle from Naruto, that was one big responsibility being put on her.

"What about the Parliament?" Naruto questioned as Chuchi frowned.

"The Senator's poisoning, although tragic, might be able to be put to good use. I can issue a state of martial law under the pretext of conspiracy against the Republic. This way, I can legally freeze all assets of the Royal Bank and issue warrants for the members of Parliament wanted for questioning." Chuchi answered as the group, escorted by Guardsmen, exited the hospital, and heading back to Chuchi's office to inform the people of Pantora of the Martial Law.

 **A Few Hours Later**

The response to the martial law was as predicted, the people were very unnerved by it, but most obeyed nonetheless, but the parliament was in complete chaos as the various politicians of the various factions debated on the legality of it all.

"This is a gross attack on the Pantoran Constitution! What does she have?!" One of the politicians shouted out while others rolled their eyes.

"The Senator was poisoned, that is a justifiable cause to issue martial law to find the culprits!" One of the Liberals stated, with the Pantoran Constitution suspended due to the martial law, they saw an opportunity to undermine the Parliament and enact laws to ensure the dominance of the Royalist faction. However, this debate was putting those plans on old.

"Gentlemen! We must appoint a new Senator! Clearly the current one is in no position to represent the Pantoran people!" One of the Neutralists spoke, installing one would be easy for them, installing a Neutralists would be even better.

"Bah! Her decree has all put paralyzed the Parliament! With the Constitution suspended, we have no power until such time has passed that the martial law has been lifted." Another bitter politician pointed out as the debate raged on.

 **Outside the Parliament Building**

The Parliamentary building that housed the parliament was quite extravagant. It was large, with many steps leading up to it and where the most esteemed politicians of the government went to carry out their elected duties. It was said that never in Pantoran history has a soldier set foot into the Parliamentary building, but like they say, there's a first for everything. Gunships belonging to the Pantoran military was quickly dispatched to the Parliamentary building on Chuchi's orders as acting Senator. On-board one of these gunships was Naruto, who was thinking back to the plan they had concocted.

 **Flashback**

"You want me to lead a battalion of soldiers into the Parliamentary building and arrest pretty much the whole Parliament?" Naruto questioned, wondering if he had heard right. Chuchi nodded at his question, which Shaak Ti supporting her.

"From what I have been informed about you, you have more experience with leading soldiers then Master Shaak Ti, no offense." Chuchi answered as Shaak Ti waved her off, in-fact, Shaak Ti was very pleased with the experience Naruto had when it came to commanding others.

"Yeah, but that was one battle. Why not use one of the Pantoran Generals?" He questioned as Chuchi shook her head.

"They cannot be trusted. We don't know how deep this conspiracy goes. I don't trust the high commanders of the Pantoran Military as they could be secretly working for the wrong people." She answered as Naruto huffed in acceptance. He would lead the battalion into the Parliament.

"This battalion of soldiers is actually comprised of Senatorial Guardsmen under my command. They are waiting for you outside by the gunships." Chuchi stated as Naruto nodded and headed off.

"The Senatorial Guard are handpicked by the Senator from the various branches of the military. They are extremely well trained. So, you shouldn't have to do too much, Naruto." She stated as Naruto and sighed. He grabbed his old Jedi robe and slipped it on over his simple outfit.

"Well, I'll just meet up with this battalion and judge them for myself." Naruto began marching off.

"You sure he will be ok?" Chuchi questioned, turning to Shaak Ti, who smiled and nodded.

"I have faith in him." Shaak Ti answered as Chuchi nodded and watched his retreating figure, he heads on her heart.

 _"Please be safe."_ She thought, hoping nothing would go wrong.

 **Flashback End**

Naruto was broken out of his thoughts as the gunship jerked, signifying it had landed. The doors quickly slid opened as the Guardsmen poured out of their transports, quickly getting in their formation, which considered of rows and columns. Naruto stood in-front of them as he stared up at the large building and the steps…lots and lots of steps. He sighed as he grumbled about them not putting turbo elevators or something. Truing around, he began to address his battalion of blue-robed .

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I have been assigned as your commanding officer for an undetermined period. Our mission, by order the temporary Senator Chuchi, is simple; arrest the Parliament. Every member, regardless of age or affiliation. If they resist arrest or try to flee, stun them. Understood?" Naruto questioned as the Guardsmen stomped their right foot on their ground, their rifles held up next to them, showing that there were ready for what was to come.

Naruto turned on his head and began to march up the steps, his cloak fluttering in the wind while the synchronized marching of the Guardsmen could be heard rather loudly with each step they took up the building. As they reached the final steps, they found themselves unopposed as the Parliamentary Guard's authority was superseded by the mere presence of the Senatorial forces. Entering the Parliamentary building, Naruto led the battalion of guardsmen into the Chamber that contained the Parliament itself.

"What is the meaning of this?!" One of the politicians yelled out as the Guardsmen readied their blasters, while arresting the politicians.

"By the authority of the Supreme Chancellor, this parliament is hereby temporary dissolved. I have a list of over two hundred members that have warrants for their arrest. Your assets have been frozen and a _**thorough**_ investigation will be carried out by the Republic to root out the enemies of Pantora." Naruto answered as a few politicians resisted.

"Has the Senator gone mad? She is the evil that will destroy the stability we have achieved!" A Neutralists shouted out as Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Be quiet. If you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear." One of the Labor party members shut down the conversation.

"Actually, my orders are to bring in all other members of the parliament for questioning. Your constant battle for influence has harmed your own people, those who elected you to ensure continued growth and stability. Instead, you backstab each other for power." Naruto responded as the outraged politicians were dragged away by the Guardsmen. It wasn't long before the Chamber of Parliament was completely emptied, with the few remaining soldiers gathering whatever information they could find. With his assignment complete, he began to head back to report.

 **One Week Later**

A week had passed, and martial law was no longer in effect. The Parliament had been reinstated, with their powers limited for the time being until special elections could be held to replace the two hundred and sixteen traitors. After having their power bases dissolved and arrested on charges of attempted murder, treason, embezzlement, and conspiracy, of course. However, they would also be set on trial in the Republic Grand Courts, meaning they had to be taken to Coruscant.

"So, this is it…" Chuchi said sadly as Naruto nodded, a bit saddened as well. He had gotten close to the understudy, enough to call her a good friend.

"Yeah…" Naruto responded as they watched a small fleet of Republic transports being loaded up with the prisoners, it would also be the same transport that would lead them back home.

"Will I see you again?" Chuchi questioned as Naruto thought deeply.

"I guess if you ever become a Senator for real, we will." Naruto answered as Chuchi closed her eyes and let out a small smile. It seemed like she had another motivation to becoming a politician and a Senator.

"I hope we do…" She whispered as Naruto turned to her with a sad smile.

"I have to go now." He stated as she nodded. With their final goodbyes, Naruto boarded the transport, his Master waiting for him to board the transport before taking off in her Delta-7 Interceptor. Soon, the transport departed as Chuchi smiled and turned on her heel with a new reason to achieve her dream. To see Naruto once again.

 **Aboard the Transport**

Naruto felt the transport take off as he made his way to its bridge. Despite his lack of political knowledge, one thing still bothered him. After he and his master had landed, the attacks on the Senator's life stopped. Yet, according to Chuchi, the embezzlement never stopped. He wondered just what they were using that money for? He was brought out of his thoughts as he passed the holding cells.

"You won't get away with this, Jedi!" One of the Neutralists yelled from his cell as Naruto snorted.

"Yeah, right. Sure, we won't. We're utterly doomed and the Chancellor will have us arrested as soon as we land on Coruscant." He mocked. But just then the ship shook. Naruto cursed his mouth as the lights went out, with the red emergency lights coming online. He quickly ran to the bridge, wondering what was going on.

"What the hell—" He stopped as he entered the cockpit. They were under attack by a large fleet headed by two Interceptor IV frigates - ships favored by the Black Sun Pirates. It was likely they were hired to kill the two Jedi and free the captive congressmen. Suddenly, those missing funds made sense to him. They had launched several boarding pods that attached themselves to the various transports.

"Naruto, I want you to guard the prisoners. I'll handle the pirates." Shaak Ti spoke over the intercom. Naruto acknowledged the order and quickly ran back to the transport's brig. As he passed through the ship, it became apparent that he was the only one on the ship that was still combat capable. Reaching the brig, the hallway in front of him was being sliced open by a boarding pod. Readying himself, he quickly activated his saber as about a dozen pirates jumped out of the pod. They quickly began to fire at Naruto, who responded with deflecting their blaster fire back right at them, killing quite a few. The other boarding party had come in behind him and began firing. He quickly charged at them, opting to use his offensive ability, striking down all the members of the boarding parties. That is, until his saber was suddenly blocked.

"What?!" He shouted as he jumped back to avoid blaster fire. Naruto looked at the bounty hunter before him. He was wearing a dark blue Mandalorian light-style armor with the shoulder pads removed, revealing the plasteel belts around his shoulders holding the chest plate up. His bodysuit was a dark grey, almost black. His visor was also tinted a red color. He hadn't seen a Mandalorian bounty hunter in a while, especially one using a vibrosword made from Mandalorian Iron.

"Who are you? Where did you get that sword from?" Naruto questioned as the man said nothing, but charged at him. Naruto quickly dodged the unusually fast bounty hunter's attempt to stab him. Quickly spinning back around, he delivered a roundhouse kick into the hunter's chest, sending him crashing into the side of the hallway. Seeing other pirates heading his way, Naruto quickly sent a large wave of Force and threw them all back to the hallway, breaking the backs of most of them. He turned his attention to the bounty hunter he had knocked down and his eyes widened, the Bounty hunter was gone.

"What the—" He didn't get to finish as he ducked down to dodge the Mandalorian vibrosword and quickly rolled forward before he turned to face his opponent. Eyes narrowed, he observed the elite pirate. This was no ordinary bounty hunter.

"I don't know who you are or where you came from, but you won't be going back in one piece." Naruto stated as he readied himself to attack. He quickly charged forward, lightsaber in hand. Against another swordsman and in these tight quarters, Naruto chose to rush forward in a Form II cadence. In his initial assault, he managed to land a glancing blow in on the man's chest plate, but he also received a pretty nasty gash on his left shoulder. Naruto charged in again, maintaining his offensive. The man's defense was impeccable, deflecting every blow and not once being disarmed. Was he force sensitive?

Then, suddenly, Naruto's focus shifted from who he was fighting, to how they were fighting. The Mandalorian was fighting just like him. He was using _Form II Makashi_. This all but confirmed it, he was facing a someone trained in the Jedi arts. The Bounty hunter began to dodge his strikes with great agility and as Naruto pulled himself back to reassess his opponent, the Bounty hunter charged forward, his forearm covered in what seemed to be lighting.

" _ **A-a Sith**_?!" Naruto barely sputtered out the words, he was somewhere between utter shock and complete surprise. His grunted in pain as a powerful electric shock surged through his body. His mind nearly fading out of consciousness.

"Was that…some new weapon? A-a shock glove or something?" He asked himself as he stumbled away from his attacker. Looking up at the Bounty hunter, he realized he had opened all of the cells ray shields and was already running away. Even Naruto couldn't have pulled off such a feat of speed. Before he could do react, the Bounty hunter had already retreated into the boarding pod.

"Wait!" Naruto shouted, attempting to stop the Bounty hunter, but the pod detached from the transport ship, causing everything inside to be pulled out into the vacuum of space. Naruto too was being sucked out, but managed to grab onto a latch, however, the prisoners were not so lucky. All the prisoners to be pulled out screaming into the vacuum of space, suffocating them all. It wasn't long before the ray shielding came into action, stopping anything else from being sucked out.

"Dammit!" Naruto shouted as he slammed his fist on the metallic surface of the ship. This was an unpresented turn of events. The prisoners were killed, thus failing their objective in a sense and that Bounty hunter.

 _"That bounty hunter...the next time I see them. I_ _ **will**_ _have my answers."_ Naruto thought as he stood up, it was best he reported to his Master and inform her on this new development.

 _"At least the courts will have a field day with the rest of them…"_ He thought, guess that was the only silver lining.

 **Who was that bounty hunter? Is it someone you know? I guess you'll have to wait and find out! Muhaha! Another cliffhanger! Gone keep you on your toes! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this story and many thanks to my Beta reader, a real hero he is! Also, expect Chapters to be longer in the story, I'm talking about 8,000 word long chapters on a weekly bases. They are going to be massive! Stick around! Well, I hope you all have a great day!**


	9. Match

**Hey there folks. It's me. No, not Fanwriter. It's your lovely Beta Reader, Digman14! Fanwriter and I just wanted to take a minute to discuss a few things with you explaining why this chapter took so long to publish. For starters, over time we've become VERY picky when it comes to this story. We passed this chapter back in forth at least five times, each adding, removing, and fixing it in our own ways. If I don't like the way something is written, I try to rewrite it, but I'm no author, so sometimes I have to send the entire chapter back to Fanwriter to get his take on it. Secondly, we've both decided that we want to slow down the production of this fic in general so that Fanwriter can both work on other stories, and also make longer chapters. We've gone from writing 4000 word chapters to making each chapter 8000 words or more, and we still want to take it higher. We want quantity AND quality over frequency. So, you might be getting the chapters less often, but you'll be getting more out of each chapter. Lastly, there was my schedule. I work in local politics and it was election season, so I couldn't get any work done on the fic during that time. But that time has passed! So enough babbling, here it is - Chapter 9 of The Untold Prophecy.**

 **Enjoy! And Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful that we're finally able to get this chapter out to you!**

 **Alright! This is Fanwriter! Like Digman14 said, this story's production will be slowed down, for the stories sake and for mine and Digman13s sanity. With that said, best of luck to you all! Bye!**

 **One Year Later**

Nearly two years have passed since the blonde Padawan had landed on Pantora, and the last year had been one of Naruto's best as far as he can remember. After the whole debacle, Naruto had investigated many systems known to attract Bounty Hunters, but sadly, he was unable to find a Bounty Hunter like the one he had faced two years ago. He had given up that personal mission of his. Right now, there was something far more important to him.

Naruto pushed the many Jedi gathered within the medical wing of the Temple out of his way as he entered the room where his Master was located in.

"Get out of the way!" Naruto grunted out as he rudely pushed both the Knights and Masters out of the way as he forced his way to the pod. Breaking through the crowd, he scanned the room and spotted a few doctors around his Master, who was awake.

"Your vitals seem fine, but I'm afraid that the scar will last." One of the doctors stated as Plo Koon waved it off, a little scarring didn't matter much to him, so long as it didn't hinder his ability.

"My appearance is of little concern." Plo Koon answered, his new mask feeling a bit off as his old one was destroyed. He would have to get this one adjusted a bit, but that would have to wait, as his own eyes met familiar blue ones.

" _Master..._ " He heard as the blue-eyed blonde rushed forward and embraced his Jedi Master. Plo Koon blinked as he also wrapped his arms around this young man.

"N-Naruto?" He questioned as Naruto backed away from their hug, and replied with a grin that his Master immediately recognized.

"Who else?" Naruto said as Plo Koon chuckled while getting back up. As he did, he inspected Naruto a bit. The blond Jedi's hair was trimmed a bit, but it was still spikey. His whiskers had become a bit more pronounced. Could this be the doing of the fox? He filed that in away in his mind for later.

"It seems that you have grown quite a bit young Naruto." Plo Koon stated as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah! You won't believe that crazy missions and adventures I went through with Master Shaak Ti! They sent me on a mission to investigate these assassination attempts on Pantora, and to mediate a conflict on Mon Cala." Naruto responded as Plo Koon raised an eyebrow.

"You went on a _political_ mission? Are you sure that this is the same Jedi Council we are talking about?" Plo Koon questioned as many of the more traditional Masters would have thrown a fit about a Padawan having three Jedi Masters, all of whom serve on the Council. Naruto scoffed at that.

"It's the same Council all right. Old man Rancisis was the first to oppose me going, but he actually came around, believe it or not." Naruto stated as Plo Koon hummed, just how long was he out?

"Naruto, how old are you? How many years has it been since I was in a coma?" Plo Koon questioned as he looked at Naruto. He had grown quite a bit, far from the child he had come to know.

"Me? Uh, I'm twenty-two. And my birthday is only a couple of months away too. So, I guess you were out for over six years? Yeah, it's about half of a year to the anniversary of the crash. So, six years and six months. Not sure if it was six days though, I didn't count. It'd be kind of ironic if it was." Naruto answered as Plo Koon's eyes widened. _**Six,**_ no nearly _**seven**_ years?! By the Force, is that what a failed crash landing can do to you?

"I think it's safe you say that I need to practice my piloting skills?" Plo Koon joked as Naruto smiled at the joke. Even after being in a coma for such a long time, he didn't lose his humor a single bit. Naruto suddenly hugged Plo Koon again.

"I'm just glad you're ok…" Naruto started as Plo Koon sighed and tapped his Padawans back. He knew how much Naruto cared about the bonds he had formed. He simply let it be and the two of them shared a moment.

"You've been like a father to me, you know that?" Naruto questioned as he wiped his tears away. Plo Koon nodded, a smile on his face. Truly, emotions made Naruto stronger, not pull him to darkness, despite the creature he carried. Plo Koon stood up as he laid a hand on his Padawan's shoulder.

"Now then, I believe that the Council will most likely summon me. It's best we get up to speed before then." Plo Koon stated as Naruto grinned as he wiped his tears away. Today was a good day.

"It'll be good to have you as my master again." Naruto said as Plo Koon walked slowly behind him. "Don't get me wrong, Master Shaak Ti is great, but... well I've just missed you, ya know?"

"Actually, about that..." Plo Koon grunted out. Naruto looked up at him inquisitively as Plo Koon hummed slightly. Naruto had indeed grown up quite the bit and he was sure that he would become a Jedi Knight in no time.

"I'm not going to be able to be your Master. I'm in no condition. Even right now, my body aches just from walking." Plo Koon stated as Naruto's eyes widened. This was not what he had expected.

"But why? Are you just going to pass me off to another Jedi Master?" Naruto questioned, a bit hurt by that statement. Plo Koon was like a father to him and for him to say that he was going to be given to another Master didn't sit well with him. Plo Koon shook his head.

"On the contrary, you have learned all that I can teach you. There is nothing left that I can teach you, and while Master Shaak Ti has been a great Master, odds are, she has also run out of things to teach you." Plo Koon reasoned. He didn't want to send Naruto to another Master, far from it. He wanted to see the boy become a Knight under his guidance, but for Naruto's own sake he had to. Naruto sighed as he thought over what he had just heard from his Master.

"Call your friend, Siri. You two are going to spar. I need to see if my hunch is correct." Plo Koon requested. Naruto quickly did as ordered, finding Siri within a few hours. The two began their duel in front of Naruto's master.

Naruto was good. _Very_ good. His attacks were relentless and precise. As he darted and flipped around Siri, his complete mastery of Form IV was readily apparent, as was his skill in Form II. Plo Koon was convinced that his skills in the Form were no match for Naruto's. When his offensive was halted, Naruto quickly fell back on Form V and the more defensive aspects of Form II. Naruto refused to let Siri get an attack in without throwing one in himself. Plo Koon watched attentively, it didn't take long for him to spot it. Naruto and Siri finished after, with Naruto claiming yet another victory.

"I know just the Master for you, Naruto." Plo Koon finally spoke up from his silence.

"It's not Siri is it? Because I actually just schooled her." Naruto received a pinch on the ear in response from his fellow blonde.

"No, it's not Siri." Plo Koon chuckled. "I think Master Yoda was onto something all those years ago when we first met. Master Fisto would be a great match for you."

If Naruto was honest with himself, Kit Fisto was that one crazy uncle that was all about doing crazy things. Kit Fisto was quite carefree and was as energetic as Naruto. The two had taken on many missions together under Shaak Ti, and most them went south fast. Not like Kit Fisto or Naruto minded, they were eager to dive into the action, but Kit Fisto had taught Naruto to analyze, observe, and gather information before moving onwards. The more you knew about the enemy, the better it was. Plo Koon surmised that Naruto could use more of this, but there was another reason for his choice.

"Your attacks are extremely predictable, Naruto. I could see them coming a mile away, and I'm sure Siri could. She just can't block them well enough because of your speed. But if you ever come across an opponent fast enough to keep up with you... well, you're toast." Plo Koon explained while Naruto's face sunk.

"You quite literally need to go back to the basics. Master Fisto is an expert of Form I, and I think it would do you much good to learn an unpredictable form from such an unpredictable Master. I'll ask him when we meet later if he'll take you as his apprentice, but I doubt he would mind if you suddenly knocked on his door tomorrow to show up for training." Naruto's master chuckled again. A Temple Guard came into the room and Plo Koon, knowing the reason he was here, followed him to the Council chambers.

 **Jedi Council Chambers, One Year Later**

After Plo Koon had woken up, he had learned of what happened during the past years he had missed and, he was proud of Naruto. He had achieved no much in such little time. He was a seasoned commander, one of the best duelists in the order, and had a strong connection with the Force, one that rivaled even Master Yoda. Plo Koon had thought over that and had come the only conclusion he could.

The Jedi Council had long theorized that the energy known as Chakra should have suppressed the Force within Naruto, especially considering how much Chakra he had. From what Yoda had told them about the people of Naruto's world, none of them held a tangible connection to the Force. Yet, Naruto had one of the strongest connections to the Force the Order had seen. For Naruto's people, they could not survive without Chakra or the Force. It was still somewhat of a mystery. However, learning to balance between controlling his chakra and letting the Force flow through him had somehow managed to allow him to master both. It allowed Naruto to be a natural in the ways of the Force and he was absorbing it all like a sponge.

And then there was Skywalker, who definitely had the highest naturally occurring Midi-Chlorian count in history. Yoda had long questioned who he believed the Chosen One to be and still could not come to a conclusion. Skywalker was a good study, and despite his late start he had already surpassed several Padawan in his age group. But Naruto's chakra abilities, martial might, as well as his control over the Force, made him a Padawan only in name. But that descriptor was to be his no longer.

Today was a big day for Naruto, it would be the day that his life as a Jedi would change forever. He was summoned by his Master to High Council Chambers. He entered a room pitch black, and the door shut behind him. He walked forward in the dark room, using the Force to guide him to the center without stumbling. His skill, courage, insight, spirit, and flesh had all been tested. And his devotion to the Order was about to be recognized as the unlit room suddenly illuminated by twelve lightsabers.

His skill had been exhibited countless times. From Mandalore, to Naboo, to Pantora, and numerous times in-between. His courage proven when he faced an entire army, endless in number, with only a handful of soldiers to aid him in the Naboo resistance. His insight was revealed on Pantora, as he helped put together a puzzle despite missing several of the pieces. His spirit, tried in the fires of Mandalore as he faced his inner demon, had been tested. Lastly, dealing with the loss of a Master was not something many Jedi had to go through. His endurance in the face of pain had proven him capable. He had passed the trials both in the Temple and in the real world. He was ready. Naruto stepped forward and knelt in front of Master Windu, who began to speak.

"Naruto Uzumaki. By the right of the council, by the will of the Force, I dub thee -" A quick slash of his purple saber singed Naruto's long Padawan braid, Naruto was filled with a swelling of pride. "Jedi, Knight of the Republic." Master Windu finished the ceremony as Naruto stood.

 **Jedi Temple:**

Naruto grinned ear to ear as he exited the Council Chambers, his Padawan braid held tightly in his hand. Siri smiled at the blond. He had come a long way from being that brat she had known and dare she say he was quite handsome now that he was quite grown up.

"Well look at you, finally a full-fledged Jedi Knight." Obi-Wan spoke as he approached Naruto. Naruto chuckled as he gave a thumb up.

"One step closer to Grand Master!" Naruto responded as Obi-Wan chuckled.

"I suppose this calls for a celebration?" Obi-Wan questioned as he raised an eyebrow as Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Sorry, not today, I've got to do something important." Naruto responded as he ran off down the hallway, leaving the group of Jedi's behind. Siri suppressed a growl as Obi-Wan looked at her, confused.

"What was that all about?" He questioned her as she rolled her eyes and turned on her heels and headed to her room.

"It's that mission of his, protecting the queen and all." Siri stated with a flat tone. Obi-Wan sighed. Siri was highly against the mission that Naruto was currently assigned to. Why should he be assigned to protect the one person that insulted his sacrifice? Save to say, the Queen of Naboo wasn't exactly a favorable person in Siri's eyes. And speaking of government leaders, Obi-Wan's thoughts started to drift to a certain Mandalorian Duchess.

 **With Naruto:**

Naruto grinned as he exited the Temple and boarding of the transports. He quickly pressed a few buttons and he was off. Navigating the skylines of Coruscant was never easy, but thankful Naruto had gotten good at it, but he wasn't expert pilot like his Master had been. Making his way through the air streets, he spotted his destination as he brought his transport down, landing it on one of the pads in front of a large skyscraper.

He quickly made his way through the building. He smiled as he spotted the Queen. His Queen. Although technically, she was a senator now. Sneaking up to her, he hugged her from behind. She gasped as she turned around.

"Naruto!" She shouted as Naruto chuckled. "Wh-what are you doing here?! You scared me half to death." He leaned down and lightly kissed her on her lips.

"Hey there, Senator." He whispered as she blushed and kissed him back.

"Don't call me that. It still feels weird." She fidgeted and shied away.

"Well, I can't exactly call you Queen anymore, can I? What should I call you, exactly?" Naruto asked.

"I-I liked it when you called me your Queen." She responded, pulling him into a deep kiss. "I'll be the Queen, and you can be my loyal _Jedi Knight_." She said seductively into the next kiss.

"I like the sound of that more and more." Naruto grinned and kissed her again.

"Quiet, Knight." Padme suddenly ordered. She began to pull off her nightgown. "Your Queen commands you to entertain her." Padme, with a sultry smile on her face, walked slowly into the bedroom, throwing her nightwear by the doorway.

"I like the sound of _that_ even more!" Naruto wasted no time in pulling off his shirt and following Padme into bed.

 **The Next Morning:**

"Senator Amidala, Master Skywalker is here on official Jedi business." A protocol Droid spoke as it entered the office where Padme was doing her work with Naruto working on his lightsaber. Naruto raised an eyebrow as he glanced at Padme, whose eyes twinkled a bit at the mention of the Jedi, but Naruto shrugged it off.

 _"I guess being stuck in an office for the whole day is boring."_ He thought, even he would be pleased if someone came to visit him if he was stuck in an office.

"Ani? Send him in." She ordered the Droid as the Droid bowed a little before it turned around to invite the Jedi Padawan in.

"You know the guy?" Naruto questioned. He wasn't exactly a friend of Skywalker, in-fact, he still held a bit of a grudge against him for his recklessness on Naboo that almost got his Master killed. Even more so since the young Padawan had begun to compete against Naruto for literally everything.

"Yes, we got to know each other when we met on Tatooine, and he was my bodyguard when you were sent on your mission to Pantora." Padme answered as Naruto blinked at that. The Council did say that they would have someone else take over his mission while he was on Pantora. Speaking of Pantora, last he heard, Chuchi was in the running for the next senate term. Naruto was brought out of his thoughts as the door swished open and one Anakin Skywalker walked in, a brooding scowl on his face.

"Your highness, I was sent here by the Council to inform of a change to your protection detail." Anakin started as Naruto frowned. Wondering what this was all about. Padme raised an eyebrow, also wondering how this change was so sudden.

"A change? Why was I not informed of this?" Naruto questioned as he stood up and walked up to Skywalker, who rolled his eyes.

"Well, clearly you were, here, and the Council was in a session and the protection detail mission was brought up. The Council saw best to remove you from the mission, saying how it was a waste for someone of such talents." Anakin explained as Naruto sighed. Sometimes he hated the decisions that the Council made. This was one of them.

"And who was put in-charge of the mission?" Naruto questioned, thought his gut told him he was going to hate the person in-charge. Anakin smirked slightly and puffed his chest out.

"The Council has saw best to assign myself to the mission. Given my warm relations with the senator" Anakin answered as Naruto frowned. Kenobi, he was fine, but it was Anakin that gave him foreboding feeling. As if his gut was against it. With a frown he walked past Anakin.

"I see, I'll go see the Council to confirm what you have said." Naruto spoke as he exited the room. While he wasn't saying that Anakin was lying, he wanted to make sure that this was what the Council wanted. However, it was displeased with this new change as it meant that he would be unable to spend time with Padme and he couldn't exactly make up excuses either since the Order was keeping a close eye on him.

 **With the Council**

"Already decided, the Council has." Yoda stated as Naruto frowned at the response. He had entered the Council chambers to question the legality of Anakin's statement about the mission.

"Master Yoda, with all due respect. I am far more qualified for this mission then Anakin or even Obi-Wan. Please reconsider." Naruto stated as Oppo Rancisis shook his head.

"No, you are in fact _overqualified_ for this mission." Rancisis stated as Naruto raised an eyebrow at that. He had expected a response like this, but not from the old traditional Jedi Master.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto questioned, playing dumb to see where this went, though he already knew where this was going.

"The Council has determined that a Jedi Knight, particularly someone of your skillset, experience, and ability should not be assigned to such a mission. The threat against Senator Amidala passed long ago. It was only thanks to her insistent request for protection that we kept you assigned to her after the fact. As a Knight, you will be assigned to missions that better suit your level and abilities." Mace Windu proclaimed as Naruto resisted the urge to growl. Yes, this was all good and all, but this meant less time, if any, with Padme.

"And what will these missions consist of? Leading a band of rebels to freedom?" Naruto joked as the Mace Windu shook his head with a slight chuckle.

"Let's hope not. Most of the missions we have for you are escort or diplomatic missions that have the chances of going south if you will. You will be taking on most of these missions alone. But some of the more elaborate and hostile situations will require a Master's touch, and so Master Gallia has kindly volunteered to mentor you in these particularly tricky political endeavors." Mace Windu explained as Naruto nodded and grinned at the prospect of going on missions with Master Adi Gallia. She was Siri's Master, and he had worked with her in the past. He wouldn't mind it one bit to go on it again.

"If that is what you think is wise…" Naruto grumbled as he bowed and left the Council Chambers, try as he may, this was one thing that the Council would not go back on. Logic and his present situation worked against Naruto. In his quest to become a Knight, he had become overqualified, and thus seeing the young Senator would become monumentally more difficult. He sighed as he walked through the Chambers, that is until someone noticed him.

"Naru!" He heard as he looked down at the tween Togruta and smiled.

"Ashoka, how many times have I told you about calling me that?" He questioned as the youngling giggled, knowing that Naruto did not like being called Naru.

"A lot, but your name is Naru to me... You should just go ahead and change it already." She answered as Naruto rolled his eyes and ruffled her headtails, causing her to giggle more. Naruto smiled as he looked down at the youngling. She was like a younger sister to him, and he had passed down his mantle of Prank Master to her. It was something that he cherished like his relationship with Padme, and his surrogate family, Siri, Plo Koon, Shaak Ti, Kit Fisto, and many others he had gotten to know.

"Shouldn't you be studying?" He questioned her as she pouted at the question.

"No! Studying is so boring! Besides, you never studied and look what you became, a Jedi Knight!" She answered as Naruto chuckled nervously.

"Oh? Did little Naru dodge his studies?" Naruto heard someone whisper in his right ear as he jumped a little in surprise and turned to find a chuckling Siri.

"What did I tell you about calling me that?!" Naruto questioned, a light blush settling on his cheeks as Siri chuckled at his reaction.

"...To not to?" She answered as Naruto nodded.

"Ahsoka, you are not to hang out with this mean old lady any longer." Naruto put on a sardonic face. Siri scowled in return.

"Old?! I _just_ turned 30 last month." Siri responded, agitated.

"Hey, remember. Where I come from, if a lady isn't married by 25, they're considered as good as expired Christmas cake." Naruto continued to tease, and Siri started to boil.

"Didn't you tell me that these girls often find foreign husbands, though? How about it, Naru? You're part Mandalorian, right? Will you finally take me as your 'Christmas cake' wife?" Siri taunted back. Normally, Naruto would cringe and retch at the thought, but this time he wasn't going to be defeated so easily. He was a Jedi Knight, her equal. Inspiration struck him as he dropped his eyes and slowly stepped closer to his surrogate sister.

"You're right, Siri. You... You're the only woman I could ever love... Let's run away, together!" Naruto closed in and pursed his lips. Siri's face had become beet red, and her eyes were widened in shock. He had to be playing her, she knew it! But as Naruto leaned in, her lips instinctively started to pucker to return the kiss.

"Well it seems that you two are having fun, Naru." Someone spoke from down the hall, causing him to jump in surprise again, this time it was his former Master! His face turned just as red as Siri's, but he managed to work through his embarrassment from the annoyance of hearing his nickname.

"Not you too!" Naruto cried out. Plo Koon only chuckled in response.

"Forgive me, but only I came to get Ashoka for her classes. Just be sure to head back to your rooms before you two go any further." Plo Koon stated as Ashoka whined about being dragged away to study.

"Naru, help me!" She cried out as Master Plo Koon dragged her away as Naruto sweat dropped in embarrassment. This was turning more tense by the minute. It wasn't long before Plo Koon and Ashoka were out of his sight as they rounded a corner, leaving Naruto and Siri alone in the hallway, the atmosphere so tense you'd need a lightsaber to cut through it.

"Ah, you... you know I was joking right?" Naruto turned to Siri.

"Oh, uh yeah..." Siri responded, still flustered by their near kiss. "So... you wanna go out for something to eat?" Siri questioned as Naruto thought about it before shrugging.

"Sure, I haven't had something to eat in a while." Naruto agreed awkwardly as the duo went off to find a good place to eat. Obi-Wan often talked about this place a friend of his ran.

 **Dex's Diner:**

"Here you go! One house special for the newest Knight of the Order!" Dex spoke with laughter and he set the food down. Dex had become quite the friend to Naruto, as Naruto had more or less made frequent visits to Dex's Diner.

"Thanks' old man!" Naruto thanked the man with a grin, who chuckled and headed back, he had other orders to work on.

"So, how's Knighthood treating you? Now that it's official I mean." She questioned him as Naruto sighed.

"With all the responsibility and being a proper role model for the Younglings and Padawans? Boring." He answered as he shoved a spoonful of whatever it was he was eating into his mouth. He would much rather spend his time with Padme or going on an exciting mission or two. He hated doing nothing.

"Really? I thought you would running around, yelling out 'I got promoted!'" She teased him as he rolled his eyes. Taking a bit of the foreign food, she too was eating.

"Do you really have so little faith in me?" He questioned as she laughed at his response.

"It's not that I have no faith in you, it's that I know all that is there to know about you." She answered with a smile as Naruto hummed, did she really know all about him? Well, she didn't know one or two things about him. The two finished their meal and made their way back to the Temple. As the two were leaving the hanger bay, they were cut off by Master Kit Fisto.

"Ah, Naruto, just the person I was looking for." Kit Fisto spoke as Naruto raised an eyebrow. What did Master Kit Fisto need from him?

"Do you need something Master Fisto?" Sera questioned as Kit Fisto approached the two Knights.

"Not really. I was actually heading out on a mission soon and was wondering if you would be interested in coming?" Kit Fisto answered as Naruto let out a grin.

"Oh, I'm interested." He tapped his lightsaber. His action was quickly put to rest when he felt pain on his head.

"If he's going, then I am as well." Siri stated as she withdrew her fist, letting Naruto nurse his injury. Kit Fisto chuckled at the display and nodded. Three Jedi wouldn't hurt, it should increase their odds if anything.

"Very well. Meet me back here in about two hours." Kit Fisto ordered as he headed off to a new direction, leaving the two Knights to bicker amongst themselves.

 **A Few Days Later:**

Naruto blinked as he felt an odd disturbance in the Force. He frowned as he tried to locate this disturbance, but failed. It was as if a shift had occurred within the Force, one that unnerved him.

"You ok?" Siri questioned as the two walked through the corridors of a ship. Master Kit Fisto and the two Knights were assigned on a mission to investigate the disappearance cargo ship's within the Mid-Rim. Currently, they had boarded a ship whose distress beacon had recently been activated.

"Yeah, just something seems…wrong?" Naruto questioned as Siri raised an eyebrow, wondering what that meant. However, she quickly pulled Naruto down as a vibroblade flew over the two.

"Maybe _that's_ what's wrong." Siri snarked as she pointed at a few bounty hunters. Naruto rolled his eyes at them.

"Bounty Hunters…why does always have to be Bounty Hunters?" He questioned as he activated his saber, Siri following his action as the two found themselves deflecting blaster fire. Siri quickly charged forward, deflecting blaster fire as she got closer and closer to the Bounty Hunters. In less than a few seconds, she was upon the first hunter, slicing his blaster in half and quickly slashing him across the chest. Dodging an attempt on her life from her right, she pivoted on her foot and delivered a roundhouse kick to the Bounty Hunter, with the helmet completely crushed, he was sent crashing back into the wall.

"Too slow." Siri commented as she jumped over the last foe that tried to stab her. She quickly slashed the Bounty Hunters jetpack as she landed behind her, sending the woman into the air as her pack malfunctioned before it exploded. Siri took a deep breath as she observed the downed Bounty Hunter.

"Wow, hate to be that guy." Naruto stated as he pointed to the one who got kicked in the face. He could see blood leaking from the poor man's helmet. How hard could Siri kick?!

Siri she kneeled to the one she killed and tried to find anything on him.

"Maybe they're being paid to hijack ships?" Naruto reasoned as she himself went through the downed Bounty Hunters. Nothing. All they had were armor, blasters, thermal grenade's, and other weaponry.

"If so, then who? The Hutts or any pirate organization would just do it themselves." Siri questioned as she hummed, trying to find a clue. However, she was broken out of her thoughts as the holodisk beeped. She pulled it out and activated it to reveal Master Kit Fisto.

"Master?" Naruto questioned as Kit Fisto frowned slightly.

 _"I want you all to report to the bridge at once, it seems the disappearance of these ships is not the work of common thieves."_ Kit Fisto stated as the two Knights nodded and quickly ran off, heading towards the bridge of the ship. As they did so, the ship was all but abandoned. No sign of the crew anywhere, no signs of resistance. Nothing. It was as if they had vanished into thin air. But that did not explain the Bounty Hunters. Entering the ships bridge, they spotted Kit Fisto going through the logs.

"Did you find a clue?" Naruto questioned as Kit Fisto slightly nodded as he beckoned the two to walk up to the hologram of the Galactic map.

"This ship was traveling along the Hydian Way." Kit Fisto answered as Siri raised an eyebrow.

"What does that have to do with anything?" She questioned as Kit Fisto further zoomed in on the map to show the Colonies region of the galaxy.

"All ships that have disappeared were traveling along the Hydian Way, within the Mid-Rim. Furthermore, they all disappear near planets like Rendili, Humbarine, Talasea, and as far as Antar. These ships are not being stolen by pirates, it's far too organized for pirates." Kit Fisto stated as Naruto pointed at the map.

"So, what? Some organization is stealing from cargo ships? For what purpose?" Naruto questioned. The cargo and the ships themselves weren't stolen, so it wasn't wealth or the ships that were valuable.

"The crew?" Siri questioned as Kit Fisto nodded.

"The crew of every ship that has been found was missing." Kit Fisto stated as Naruto hummed at it, wondering why only the crew was missing?

"Could it be the Trade Federation? Are they setting up another blockade?" Naruto reasoned, wouldn't be the first time the Trade Federation tried something like things, and given Naruto's experience with them, it was a safe assumption.

"No, for once the Trade Federation is innocent. Quite a few of their ships have also been targeted, and later found with the crew missing. Besides, the Federation has no need to kidnap a ship's crew" Kit Fisto reasoned. Why would the Trade Federation attack ships for crew members? Most of the Trade Federation ships were operated by Droids, so the crew was not an issue. They also had a large trade network, meaning they were quite wealthy.

"I wasn't able to find any information on the Bounty Hunter, but I did find this." Siri spoke up as she brought out an old looking currency. Kit Fisto took the old currency and inspected it and frowned. The currency was old, most likely obsolete as the Republic Credits was what the galaxy used.

"This used to be the currency of Zygerria." Kit Fisto stated as Naruto growled.

"Zygerrians? Those slaving bastards?" Naruto questioned, already understanding what happened to the crew. Zygerrians were a people notorious for maintaining one of the largest slave rings in the galaxy. It was a far cry from their massive slavery operations of old, but once slavery had been outlawed by the Republic, it crumbled. They had since built up a modest racket since, but it hadn't been much of a concern until now.

"If it is the Zygerrians, then what are they doing all the way out there?" Siri questioned. The Zygerrian hated the Republic and the Jedi for interfering with their business, but for them to venture this far out? Something was up.

"I think it's safe to say that the Zygerrians are the responsible party. They must be ramping up their slavery operations once more." Kit Fisto reasoned as he turned around, the two Knights following him.

"What now?" Naruto questioned as they walked down the corridor of the ship.

"For now, we report back to the council. From there, the council will determine the next course of action." Kit Fisto responded as the two Knights nodded. This was a situation that required their attention urgently.

 **Back on Coruscant**

Padme sighed as she worked on the paper work. It hadn't been long since Naruto had left, and Anakin had taken over the bodyguard mission.

"Look, I'm just saying that you need to break up with him." Anakin argued as Padme looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"It's not that easy." Padme stated as Anakin rolled his eyes and walked up to her.

"If you don't know it will only be worse. For both of you. He could get expelled." Anakin reasoned as Padme set her pen down. She and Naruto had been in a secret relationship for quite a while. While she liked Naruto, she felt that her relationship with him was starting to crack with how often he was away on missions. When Naruto was sent on the Pantora mission she and Anakin had started becoming quite close.

"It's…not that easy. I have been with him for years and to simple just break it off for no reason?" Padme responded as Anakin sighed this time. Anakin was a powerful Jedi. He was talented, if a slow learner. All the praise had already gotten to the young Padawan's head, putting him in direct competition with the only other Jedi who was said to exhibit the same level of talent as him; Naruto.

Anakin saw everything as a competition with Naruto, be it Saber work, the Force, intelligence, anything. Anakin wanted to be the best, after all, he was the Chosen One, yet Naruto had always outdone him. That blond Jedi had ascended to such great heights in such a short amount of time. His name was well known from Jedi and politicians to the bounty hunters afar his head. This did not sit well with Anakin. Thus, everything Anakin did, he tried to outshine Naruto. Anakin had become a far better pilot than Naruto, and his natural connection to the Force was stronger, but Naruto was more skilled with a lightsaber and the Force. Anakin chalked it up to experience, and he would close the gap soon enough. Not to mention the fact that getting closer with Padme would not only make him happy, but it would also stick it to that blond.

"What's so complicated? Just break up with him, simple as that." Anakin reasoned. He didn't understand why she was so unsure of herself. Walking up to her, he smirked as he leaned down to kiss her. Padme leaned in as the two kissed. The two didn't even know that their actions would have serious ramifications for the galaxy at large.

 **Jedi Council Chambers, One Week Later**

"Troubling, this is." Yoda hummed out as the Council was gathered to discuss the findings that Master Fisto and the two Knights have found.

"If what you say is true, then the Zygerrians are reverting back to their old ways in a big fashion." Mace Windu stated as may mumbled at that.

"Not only that, but this in turn breaks the treaty that the Zygerrians signed with the Republic." Master Rancisis stated. The treaty that the Zygerrians had signed with the Republic was overseen by the Jedi Order. For the Zygerrians to so brazenly disregard that treaty, that would be a slap to the Republic, but also a serious blow to the Order's ability to maintain such treaties.

"Then we are in agreement? We should prevent the Zygerrians from building up a new slave empire?" Master Kit Fisto questioned as many nodded, the Zygerrians had to be stopped. If the Zygerrians were to become too powerful, they Republic would have another Hutt Space situation on their hands. The Jedi would not let another Hutt like situation come to be.

"That may be true, but the Republic is not what it once was." Master Shaak Ti spoke up, surprising many, even Naruto. Was she saying that the Zygerrians be left alone?

"What do you mean?" Mace Windu questioned with a raised eyebrow. He was very willing to put down the Zygerrians threat. Out of all the Jedi Masters, Mace Windu was the only one that did not shy away from putting down the more harmful threats to the Galaxy.

"When the treaty was signed, the Republic had a large number of Fleets, a seasoned army, navy, and starfighter corps. The Zygerrians did not willingly chose to end their slave empire, that was imposed on them. With the Ruusan Reformation, our fleets and armies have faded away. We don't have any sort of formal army to speak of anymore." Shaak Ti reasoned as Plo Koon stroked his mask.

"In other words, the Republic does not have the same tools necessary to prevent a new Zygerrian Slave Empire." Plo Koon elaborated as Shaak Ti nodded. She was right, the Republic just did not have the means to prevent such a thing unless an army was conscripted, and that notion would probably embolden the secessionist movement led by Count Dooku, who had recently come back into the fold of galactic affairs. His faction would gain tremendous support if it was found that the Republic is unable to stop Zygerrian slavers. If the Republic couldn't protect its citizens, they would have to join him. Naruto's fists tightened as he realized all this.

"Then send me. I will stop the Zygerrians." Naruto spoke up as he looked straight at Master Yoda, who merely hummed at that.

"This is a situation unlike any other. This isn't another war, or political game." Mace Windu stated, they would need the Republic on this one, but the Republic would be useless. This did not stop Naruto.

"I know, but let me handle this mission. I know that I can stop the Zygerrians. They need to be stopped, not tomorrow, not a month later, not years later down the road, but now!" Naruto stated firmly. However, the council would not allow him.

"This situation is a breach of treaty. We cannot do anything without the Republic's word. Return to your chambers and await the decision of the Senate." Mace Windu stated with finality before the meeting was called to an end. Naruto huffed out of the council chambers in silent anger, but he was able to control it.

 _ **"So, you're going to let those slaving bastards go?"**_ He frowned as he heard the voice of the Nine Tails. Over the years, the beast would occasionally speak to him, but the chakra construct spent most of the time dormant.

 _"No…but what choice do I have?"_ Naruto questioned himself as he heard the Kyuubi laugh.

 _ **"When did you care about choices? You've already broken so many rules by getting yourself involved with that Queen."**_ The fox spoke as Naruto snarled. The dame that didn't know what to shut up.

 _"Leave her out of this."_ Naruto spoke as the Nine Tails kept on chucking.

 _ **"Oh? Hit a nerve, did I? Just think, Naruto. How long will it take the Senate to make up its mind? How many more people have to suffer while they sit and debate in committees?"**_ If Naruto wasn't fuming before, he was now. The damn fox was right. It would be weeks before this was even brought up from the Senate's docket. Palpatine was a much better chancellor than Valorum, but even this would take a month to resolve.

 _ **"Only time will tell, Naruto…"**_ The tailed beast spoke as he closed his eyes to catch some sleep. Things were about to change; many things were about to change soon.

 **Alright! How was it? Good or bad? I hope it was good! Me and Digman14 worked really hard on this one and many things were cut out and replaced and added and so on. And like he said, this chapter had A LOT of versions of it. With that said, I hope you all enjoy Thanksgiving and any and all holidays to come! Bye!**


	10. Kindling

**Hello! How are you all doing! Good I hope! I have here is the 10 chapter of the Untold Prophecy! I know it has been months since this story was updated, but there were other things that needed attention. With that said, I this story will be updated from here on out with the others. I know some of you are not pleased with some things but do know that you will love the paths this story will take. I hope you enjoy this chapter, bye!**

 **Two Years Later, 22 BBY**

Naruto Uzumaki was known for being energetic and having a happy-go-lucky type of attitude. However, the blond had changed over the past couple of years. He'd become a good deal colder, not too willing to mingle with his fellow Jedi, other than those he already knew. He had become uninterested in many things and had become more subdued. Naruto seemed to have finally learned the ways of the Jedi by becoming emotionally detached, but to some this was a concern.

"He's at it again. I see." Master Plo Koon spoke as he stroked his mask, watching his old Padawan duel once again with Siri. His movements ruthless and faster than thought, the luminous whirl of his blade was almost blinding to Siri, who was having a hard time at keeping up with his mad, relentless assault.

"Hmmm, strong he is, but sense something wrong, I do…" Master Yoda said as Plo Koon nodded. Naruto's change of attitude was quite concerning to the two, more so to Plo Koon, who saw Naruto as a son he never had.

 _"I need to go faster…once I'm able to overwhelm her defenses with raw speed,_ _ **then**_ _I can practice on getting my technique up to par."_ Naruto thought as he quickly brought his saber down for a strike, or rather five, before quickly ducked down to avoid Siri's own saber. Using that opportunity, he kicked Siri in the leg, causing her to fall, but not before she used the Force to regain her balance and kicked him away with her other leg.

"Wow, calm down will ya?" Siri questioned as Naruto simple stood up, saber in hand as he dusted away some dirt as he deactivated his saber, his mind was somewhere else right now. Siri frowned as she deactivated her saber, watching him leave. She gritted her teeth as she followed him. " _Why is he becoming such an ass?"_

"Hey! What's wrong with you?" She questioned as she caught up to him. Naruto grunted as he kept on walking.

"Nothing's wrong with me." Naruto answered as Siri rolled her eyes, that was a lie.

"Really? Because what I saw back there was not the Naruto I have known. While fast and strong, your strikes were sloppy. Something is _definitely_ wrong." Siri stated as she walked besides him as the two walked through the hallways. Naruto rolled his eyes as he suddenly stopped and looked back at her.

"I'm fine, Siri. Just a little tired, is all." Naruto answered as he turned to corner, leaving standing in the hall, a redness on her furled brow as she brought her hands up to her heart.

"You're not fine…Why did you start lying to me?" She whispered. Something was wrong with him, and she would find out, one way or another.

 **With Master Yoda and Plo Koon**

"Uncertain, his future is." Yoda stated as Plo Koon sighed.

"I was under the impression that it was always uncertain." Plo Koon countered as Yoda hummed. The fox creature within his seal was a mysterious creature, that was seemingly powerful in the dark side. What little bit of its power Naruto had used in the past sent shivers down Master Yoda's spine.

"Responsible, the fox might be." Yoda suggested, stating that the Kyuubi might be the reason behind Naruto's sudden change in attitude. Plo Koon hummed as he wondered if that was the case.

"The beast does give off hate, more hate than that of a Sith." Plo Koon responded. When Naruto had used the fox's power in the past, Jedi more attuned to the Force had been able to feel its hate throughout the galaxy, yet surprisingly, they didn't feel any foul or evil element within the fox as well.

"But?" Master Yoda questioned Plo Koon, who frowned a bit.

"The fox is a being made up of Chakra. Like the Force, it is alive, but also like the Force, it is a construct of an energy. I could not feel the Darkness, one that would be associated with the Dark Side, within the Kyuubi, only hate. As such, I believe that the Kyuubi isn't necessarily a being of evil, but anger. The dark side utilizes anger but anger itself isn't the dark side." Plo Koon answered as Yoda hummed. It was a sound argument, but if that was the case, then why had Naruto's attitude changed so drastically?

"Hmmm, meditate on this, I feel I must." Yoda said as Plo Koon nodded, watching the Grand Master hobble off to his quarters, leaving Plo Koon to his own devices.

 **With Naruto**

Naruto sighed as he entered his room, which was spartan other than a few pictures. Walking into it, he felt a familiar tug at his mind. Wasting little time, he sat down in the center and closed his eyes as he began to do some breathing exercises, and the world around him suddenly grew cold, damp, and dark.

"What do you want, fox?" Naruto spoke to the large fox that appeared before him in his sewer-like mindscape.

 **"You have been harmed…"** He heard someone whisper in a chilling voice. It was a soothing voice, but at the same time it sounded deadly.

"No... I'm perfectly **fine**." Naruto grumbled as the voice chuckled, causing Naruto to frown.

 **"Oh, but you're not. There is so much…anger in you…"** The voice spoke as Naruto's frown grew.

" **Shut up** , _**Kurama**_." Naruto grit the last word through his teeth, this time causing the voice to growl back at hearing his name. Naruto's surroundings began to change as he opened his eyes, finding himself in a room…her room. In it, he could see himself and her, arguing.

 _"What do you mean, Padme? Breaking up?" Naruto questioned as she frowned._

 _"Naruto…we are two different people from two different worlds. You're a Jedi, attachments are forbidden within the Order. A-and I'm a Senator, it could harm both of us if were found out. Think of the political ramifications if the public were to know." She answered as Naruto frowned at her reasoning._

 _"This is about the Order? You already know how I feel about that rule and so what if the public were to know? Aren't_ _ **we**_ _enough? I care about you too much to care about other stuff like that." Naruto questioned as he hugged the woman, who in turn pushed him away._

 _"No Naruto, it just... it can't work. My terms as a senator are limited. Eventually my income will disappear, and we'll have nothing to live on. And if the Jedi will expel you from the Order, then your dream will be just that, a dream." She spoke, turning around. Naruto's hands formed into a fist as he turned and began to leave._

 _"So be it…Senator…" Naruto spoke as he left in anger and tears._

"I'm over that, you stupid fox…" Naruto spoke as he watched the whole event play out, like it was a movie. However, the voice chuckled at his response.

 **"Oh really? Then why does your heartache at the mere mention of her? Why is there still anger? Resentment? Your spars with that sister of yours have grown laughable. Just when I thought you might be a capable fighter."** The voice questioned as Naruto narrowed his eyes, now he knew what this was.

"You cannot lure me like you have lured so many." Naruto stated as the voice continued to chuckle.

 **"I do not need to lure you, Naruto, you will come to me, willingly. If you continue on this path, you will fall to the Dark Side, and it will be all the easier for me to break free."** The voice whispered before Naruto's eyes shot open, finding himself back in his room. He sighed as he stood up and began to head out to clear his mind.

 **"Bah, why do you even miss that wench?"** He heard a voice in his head as he sighed once more.

 _"She was my first love…"_ Naruto thought as the voice in his head scoffed.

 **"First love? She betrayed you if you didn't notice. Besides, there are plenty of other fish in the sea. Literally. You could find some nice Quarren girl and-"** The voice in his head stated as Naruto cut him off in annoyance.

" _Enough_. Why are you even talking to me? Shouldn't you be sleeping? Or telling me how you're going to escape and go on a rampage against everyone?" Naruto questioned the voice in his head. Why was the fox getting so…chatty these days?

 **"You are my container, and I will not have container become a lovesick fool. Before that woman, you were a powerful warrior! People feared you!"** The fox answered as Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Only Bounty Hunters." Naruto reasoned as he kept walking aimlessly around the temple, like he had no purpose or destination.

 **"Be that as it maybe, you're still a powerful warrior. And now? Now you almost lose to your sister! You have grown weak, weaker than even those foolish shinobi back home. You keep lying to yourself saying that you're just trying to speed up your technique, but we both know that isn't the reason you lost today."** The fox said with a chuckle as Naruto frowned. Home…he had never considered his homeworld as a home. The temple had been more of a home to him then that village. The Jedi were more of a family to him then the people back him, and that was saying a lot given that Jedi's rarely, if at all, form attachments.

"Whatever. I'm not about to fall to pieces or anything over that damn woman" Naruto stated as he kept on walking. Maybe he should visit Master Yoda for some missions?

"Master Uzumaki, the council has summoned you." Naruto was broken out of his thoughts as he turned to face a Temple Guard, who simple turned around and began to leave once the message was delivered. Naruto nodded to the retreating guard as he began to head to the council chambers, wondering what exactly the council had summoned him for.

 **A Few Minutes Later**

Naruto entered the chambers and quickly looked around, spotting the council members present, spotting his former Masters sitting in their chairs as well. In the center, was Kenobi, and his Padawan Skywalker. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he walked up to the middle and bowed slightly.

"I was told that the council summoned me?" Naruto questioned as Master Yoda nodded.

"Summoned you, we have." Yoda answered as Naruto stood in attention, hands behind his back as he switched into a more professional stance. Those Masters who had trained him frowned slightly at his behavior. A few years ago, they would have been pleased with his discipline, however, after they had understood him thought training him, they had realized that Naruto's strength derived from his emotions. An oddity considering that emotions lead to the Dark Side, yet Naruto seemed to be an exception to that. In-fact, it seemed to be the exact opposite for the blond. The more reclusive he became, the chances of him falling to the Dark Side increased. The blond thrived on emotions, taking them away would destroy him.

"Senator Amidala of Naboo was recently targeted in an attack, thankfully, only her bodyguards and her double were killed in the attack." Mace Windu began as a stinging sensation coursed through Naruto. He frowned and did his best to quash the brief moment of heartache. Another attack? A few other Senators had also been targeted, but now Padme? And _**why**_ Padme of all people.

"Do we know who it is that's behind all of it?" Anakin questioned, hiding his worry for the Senator as Mace Windu shook his head.

"No, however, these attackers are getting bolder by the day. At first, they were discreet, but now they attack are becoming more open and violent." Kit Fisto answered as Plo Koon stroked his mask.

"Senator Amidala has led the opposition to the creation of an army to oppose the Separatist alliance." Plo Koon stated as Naruto frowned.

"Do you think Count Dooku is behind this attack?" Anakin questioned the council, while Kenobi sighed at Anakin's questioning.

"No, Dooku was once an esteemed Jedi. He mentored Kenobi's master, and killing in such underhanded way is not in his character. Not to mention why would he kill the most moderate senator of the bunch. If Padme dies, war won't follow much later." Naruto countered as the others nodded.

"Well spoken, Uzumaki, but unfortunately the Senator agrees that Count Dooku is the culprit. At this present moment, we cannot confirm these suspicions, however, it has come to our attention that the Senator would require more protection, the Order's protection." Mace stated as Anakin stepped forward.

"Then allow Master Obi-Wan and I to pursue her assassins while we also continue protect her." Anakin requested as Yoda hummed.

"No", Master Windu cut in. "You are to protect the senator from further attacks and nothing more." Mace seemed very adamant about Anakin not getting involved with the pursuit.

"Why?" Anakin's retort was unexpected and laced with venom, abruptly bringing the attention of the shocked Jedi Masters to him. "Protection is a job for local security, not Jedi. Why assign Jedi to protect her if not to find out who's trying to killer. Master Uzumaki was allowed to pursue them in the past. Eight years ago, when the Federation plotted another assassination attempt, if I remember correctly."

"Hmmm, a point you raise, Skywalker. Excessive, the protection of two Jedi may be. Nevertheless, Master Naruto has protected very valuable clients from far greater danger. I fear his skill, required may be, to protect young Senator Amidala, from these unknown threats." Yoda started, hinting to Naruto's past in dealing with these types of assignments. Naruto hearing this perked up, maybe this mission would allow him and Padme to reconnect.

"Agreed, Naruto would be more useful in finding the assassin. He has quite the record with the tracking down those who attempt the murder of Senators. I am sure you recall his actions on Pantora?" Master Rancisis stated in uncharacteristic confidence for the blond, as the others weighed their options. Naruto, on the other hand, seethed silently. Being reminded of Pantora reminded him of that bounty hunter. He'd met him only a couple of times since, but each encounter was a grating reminder of his biggest failure. He _**would**_ defeat that bounty hunter, someday.

"Then Skywalker should continue as the Senator's bodyguard, with Master Kenobi's help. Naruto, you are to track the would-be killers." Shaak Ti proposed a Mace Windu nodded.

"Yes, with three well-trained Jedi, these assassins will be brought to justice swiftly." Mace Windu stated as the meeting was called to an end as Naruto bowed and turned to leave. Kenobi and Skywalker followed shortly after once Naruto had left. Naruto quickly made his way to his quarters and quickly grabbed whatever he needed and turned to leave. His mission had already begun.

 **A Few Days later**

Naruto looked through the macrobinoculars as he spied on Padme's quarters from afar. He had set himself up in a nearby building in-order to have a vantage point on his targets. He knew that the only way to catch the killer would be in action. If his hunch was true, then the ones who wanted Padme would use a Bounty Hunter this time. He sighed as he set the macrobinoculars down and drank some water.

"Why did you end it?" Naruto whispered sadly. He had been deeply hurt by Padme's decision to end their relation. He had shared many things with her, some of his secrets as well. He only wished that he could rekindle that spark the two had. However, he had his concerns, mainly, Anakin Skywalker. He had started to believe that it was Skywalker who was the cause of his and Padme's breakup, but he had no proof, so it was just him blaming others. He shook his head as he turned his attention back to his mission.

"Who would want to kill Padme? Or any one of the moderates even?" Naruto questioned. The opposition to an army for the Republic was quite large as they thought that using violence against the Separatist Alliance would only push the Separatists to use violence themselves, escalating the situation to a full-blown war. He sighed, even though he understood politics, he found them utterly frustrating. Why couldn't just deal with the problem rather than beating around the bushes. His eyes widened as he turned his head slightly left as a blaster bolt shot past him. Quickly turning around, he activated his saber, looking up at his would-be-killer with narrowed eyes. His assailant was clad in a shiny silver armor that he had come to know quite well; Mandalorian.

Thinking quickly, Naruto used the Force and leaped into the air with great speed, fast enough to reach the level the Mandalorian was positioned. As soon as he landed, Naruto charged forward, his saber at the ready to attack, however, as he got close, the Mandalorian quickly side stepped at the last second, causing Naruto to miss his target, but Naruto himself quickly turned to face the Mandalorian, sending a brutal punch right into the abdomen. The armor plating cracked as the Mandalorian was sent flying back, but not before Naruto quickly used the Force and pulled the Mandalorian right back towards him, catching the Mandalorian by the neck with his hand. Naruto glared hard at the Mandalorian, who was gasping for air.

"Who hired you?" Naruto questioned as he loosened his grip a bit, but the Mandalorian refused to answer. Naruto growled as he walked to the end of the building and with his free hand he destroyed the jetpack that the Mandalorian warrior was equipped with.

"I said; who hired you?" Naruto questioned, hanging the Mandalorian off the edge of the building, who clawed at Naruto's hand, which only served to irate Naruto, who was already pretty mad. It seemed like he still cared for Padme and he would catch her those who wanted her dead.

"D-D…" The Mandalorian started as Naruto loosened his grip once more.

"Speak." Naruto stated as the Mandalorian took in some air before speaking again.

"D-Death W-Watch." The Mandalorian answered as Naruto frowned. Death Watch…he had never heard of an organization like that before. However, that was beside the point. He would find this organization and hunt them down.

"L-Let me go." The Mandalorian spoke as Naruto turned his attention back to the Mandalorian warrior, thinking over what he should do. A smirk formed on his face as his eyes for a brief moment flashed yellow.

"Let you go? Ok." Naruto answered as he let the Mandalorian fall down three stories onto a balcony below. Without even making sure the man had survived the fall, Naruto turned and began to head to his airspeeder he had parked nearby. He needed to get some information, and if Mandalorians bounty hunters were after him, he knew he had to go to the source. Down below, the silver-clad Mandalorian grunted in pain as he stood up and activated his holocommunicator.

"This is Jango Fett, Uzumaki's taken the bait, you're clear Zam." said the bounty hunter. He quickly cut the communication after hearing Zam's confirmation on the other end and began a new transmission to another figure. This time, it was audio only.

"Lord Tyranus, I've sent Uzumaki on his wild nerf chase and Zam is moving in for the kill now. The Senator is defenseless. This mission is all but complete." Jango said to his mysterious employer.

"Excellent work, Jango. Uzumaki will find his way to me, in time. With any luck, he'll play into our hands just as he did on Pantora." the man known only as Tyranus spoke with a deep voice. "I must thank you again for lending me that armor again, it was a most effective disguise. Observe the situation until the mission is complete, if there are any complications, be sure to kill that partner of yours. We can't afford to have any loose ends."

"Yes, sir. Oh, and that armor was no big deal. I like the kid. Let him keep it, will ya?" Jango requested of his enigmatic benefactor.

"I'll give it a thought. Tyranus out." And with that, the transmission cut, and Jango gave a smirk. That Mandalorian kid he found over half a decade ago had certainly become one hell of a bounty hunter under Jango's tutelage. He didn't even need much training. Even if the kid didn't speak a lick of basic.

 **With Padme, A Few Minutes Later**

It had been a stressful few days for Padme, and even more stressful few years. After she had broken things off with Naruto, the guilt had eaten her from the inside. She had felt guilt about her actions, but she knew she couldn't undo what she had done, and this in-turn caused a rift between her and Anakin. However, now here was Anakin once again, assigned as her bodyguard after the attack on her.

"Are you ok?" Anakin questioned as he quickly looked out the shattered window. Just a few minutes ago, Padme was sleeping peacefully, while Anakin and Obi-Wan were talking outside. However, they had sensed something off and quickly rushed inside, with Anakin leaping in action and kill the odd worm like creatures near Padme on her bed, causing Padme to wake up startled, with Anakin sitting in her bed. She had quickly caught a glimpse of Obi-Wan jumping out of the window, grabbing onto something.

"Stay here, I'll go after Obi-Wan." Anakin said as he ran out to find the speeder and quickly went after Obi-Wan. The two were hot on the trail of the killer.

 **With Naruto, A Couple Days Later**

Naruto's starfighter jumped out of hyperspace, Mandalore in his sights. Naruto smiled slightly, it had been years since he had been to Mandalore. The last time he was here, it was in a state of civil war, but now it was in a state of peace. His smile quickly receded as he guided the ship towards the capital of Mandalore.

"R7, got anything on the scanners?" Naruto questioned the astromech unit beeped, giving Naruto the answer. Naruto nodded at the answer, nothing. It seemed like everything was fine so far. He quickly gently landed the pilot on one of the landing pads. As he did so, security guards quickly approached his ship as he exited.

"Halt, state your business stranger." One of the guards questioned as Naruto bowed slightly, showing he had no intentions of fighting.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, Jedi Knight of the Republic. I'm here on official business." Naruto spoke as the guards look to one another in surprise as one of them walked up, it was clear that he was the leader of the small squad.

"You're _**the**_ Naruto Uzumaki?" He questioned as Naruto blinked and nodded. The guards cheered slightly, surprising Naruto even further.

"Uh…am I missing something?" Naruto questioned as the squad leader chuckled a bit.

"Sorry, but you're a bit of a hero here on Mandalore." He answered, once more surprising Naruto for the third time.

"What?" Naruto questioned the man.

"Your actions were quite well known during the civil war. Compared to the other Jedi, you made quite the impression on the people of Mandalore." One of the guards answered as Naruto chuckled nervously.

"Well, I wasn't that great…" Naruto whispered as the squad leader of the guard chuckled.

"Nonsense! You were just a child back then, and you showed the greatest of fighting spirit. Your actions spoke for themselves. I heard from a few veterans how a ten-year-old kid used to lead entire battalions to sabotage enemy fortifications, despite your mission being only to defend." The squad leader stated as Naruto chuckled, those veterans must have been pulling his leg. He'd been part of a few attacks, sure, but he never had more than as an escort to the Duchess or her family.

"I would like to clear up a few things about the past, but I'm here on official business. I need to speak with the Duchess quickly." Naruto said as the squad leader of the group nodded and directed him to a small speeder. Hoping on board, Naruto observed the city as he was lead to the palace where the Duchess was located.

"Last time I was here, this city was a warzone." Naruto commented as the guard nodded.

"Indeed, but thanks to the Duchess, we were able to restore order and rebuild in no time." The guard responded as Naruto hummed over that information.

"Well, she was quite the charismatic leader as far as I can remember." Naruto add as the guard nodded as the transport stopped at the royal palace, where the Duchess was located. As he did so, he noticed that there was much in terms of security, other than the guards, but they weren't all that well armed if there was a serious attack. Entering the palace building, he recognized someone from the past.

"Captain Mikehl Sunn...?" Naruto questioned as the man slightly bowed to the blond Jedi.

"It's Director Mikehl Sunn now. I'm the Duchess' new head of Public Safety." Sunn corrected him as Naruto's eyes blinked, by the Force how time flies.

"I guess you got promoted to a desk job." Naruto informed him as the man grunted and rolled his eyes, acting as if he hated the job.

"Follow me, the Duchess was informed of your arrival." Sunn stated as Naruto raised an eyebrow. Naruto silently began to follow the advisor to where the Duchess was located. Entering the chambers, Naruto spotted Satine, sitting in her chair at the far end of the room.

"Mater Naruto Uzumaki, Jedi Knight of the Republic." Sunn announced as Naruto bowed before he walked up to the frowning Satine.

"Duchess." Naruto greeted with a bow as Satine raised her right hand, silencing Naruto before he could go any further.

"What is the reason for the Jedi Order to send a Jedi to Mandalore? More specifically, why _**you**_?" She questioned with harsh vitriol as Naruto raised an eyebrow, he expected many different things, but not one of them was her being this hostile.

"Whoa, Satine. What's with the third degree? Have you forgotten how I helped you? Your people?" Naruto questioned, trying to find out why she was so angry.

"I am the Duchess of Mandalore and you will address me as such. Nonetheless, I have not forgotten what you did for Mandalore, but Mandalore is a neutral system. We want nothing to do with the squabbles between the Republic or the so-called Separatist Alliance." She answered, but he knew that there was something else other than maintaining Mandalore's neutrality.

"Oh, so that's what it is. No, Satine, I'm not here for the reasons you assume. No, I am here because the life of one Senator Padme Amidala is in danger, along with many of the opposition party." Naruto answered as Satine frowned, Padme was an old friend of her. Not only that, but Naboo and Mandalore had close business ties.

"And for what reason does your visit here help her?" Satine questioned, wondering why exactly he was here. Her initial thoughts were that he was here for Bo. He had caused _enough_ damage to her younger sister. She had already left Mandalore a few years ago.

"I was instructed by the council to investigate and pursue her, I came under attack from an assassin, one who was no doubt targeting Senator Amidala. I confronted the assassin, who wore Mandalorian armor and used weapons of Mandalorian origin." Naruto answered as Satine narrowed her eyes.

"So, you believe that Mandalore, that I, would send out an assassin to kill a close friend of mine?" Satine questioned, how dare he accuse her of something like that! Naruto, however, sweat dropped at her jumping to assumptions with reckless abandon.

"N-No…I'm here because when I asked the Mandalorian who hired him, he gave me a name that I can't make sense of." Naruto stated, causing the Duchess to halt her anger as she raised an eyebrow. Maybe it wasn't the worst-case scenario she was thinking off.

"And the name?" She questioned, not knowing she was about to get a massive headache.

"Death Watch." Naruto answered as Satine's eyes widened. This was possible one of the worst-case scenarios she was thinking off.

"Are you sure?" She questioned him with seriousness as Naruto nodded, already learning the fact that Satine knew something.

"And judging from your reaction, you definitely know something." Naruto stated as Satine kept quite before she sighed. There was no point in avoiding the question. If Naruto was the same as he was all those years ago, he would see his task through to the end.

"Death Watch…they are an extremist organization that wants Mandalore to return to the old ways, they want Mandalore to embrace its warrior past. It's past of ceaseless war and violence." Satine answered as Naruto frowned at that.

"So, this is some sort of splinter group that formed after the civil war?" Naruto questioned, wondering if all that work he did all those years ago was a waste. Regardless, he had a task, one which he considered the most important one in his life right now.

"No, they aren't a splinter group. When the civil war ended, Mandalore was in a state of peace, but some didn't like it. They wanted me to sanction a military for Mandalore, along with a navy to go along with it. However, I denied their request, stating that it would only lead to violence in the future. Apparently, they took that as a sign that I want to erase the history of warrior's past, which I do not, but I will not rearm Mandalore." Satine stated. To remain true to Mandalore's neutrality and pacifistic ways, she would not allow the creation of an army or a navy.

"I see, and do you know where they are located?" Naruto questioned. If Satine knew this much, she at least might have some information regarding their movements.

"Sadly, I do not know much about their movements. However, Sunn can help you with that." Satine stated, motioning towards Sunn, who nodded with a determined look as he stepped forward.

"Our intelligence tracked some unregistered vessels entering and leaving the system. We lose them shortly after but judging from calculated hyperspace vectors and the orientation of the ships, we suspect that the point of destination is Concordia." Sunn answered as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"How do you lose track of ships within your own system?" Naruto questioned as Sunn suppressed a growl.

"Mandalore doesn't have a Navy to properly enforce our own borders. Not only that, but it seems like some of the data is being erased from the records." Sunn answered as Naruto hummed.

"So, there's a spy in your midst, huh?" Naruto commented as he began to walk out.

"Where are you going?" Satine questioned as Naruto turned to look at her.

"Concordia, obviously. To find Death Watch. Also, I really suggest you invest in a Navy. I know you're a pacifist and all, and that's a noble aspiration, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be prepared to protect yourselves. Even Jedi carry a lightsaber, and sometimes to preserve peace you must be willing to fight." Naruto's words cut deep and Satine was broiling. How dare he, a Jedi, question her methods? Naruto left immediately after that, leaving her unable to formulate an angry response. Yet she was also brooding. The situation was growing quite dire, with nearly ten thousand systems having left the Republic, they posed a serious threat to galactic peace.

"If this situation with the Separatist Alliance continues to escalate, we might be facing all-out galactic war. We need to make sure our borders are safe from the likes of pirates and vagabonds. Or at least who be able to know who travels in and out of the system. Death Watch may seek outside help in overthrowing you, Duchess" Minister Mikehl Sunn wasted no time in exploiting the Duchess' mixed feelings. A stronger Navy would give him more power in the cabinet, which he could use to convince the Duchess to allow for an even bigger military. He had not fought for Mandalore to simply watch it go down in flames barely a decade later.

 **With Naruto**

Naruto sighed as he entered his starfighter. His astromech beeped angrily.

"Yeah yeah, sorry for being late." Naruto said to the astromech unit as he slowly took the star fighter up and headed towards the Moon of Mandalore; Concordia. Concordia was once filled with rolling forests, however, excessive mining led to deforestation to supply the Mandalorian War machines in the past. However, under the Duchess decree, mining was forbidden on Concordia.

 _"That Mandalorians armor looked shiny…it was new armor._ _ **Expensive**_ _armor."_ Naruto thought over the little details. The mines of Concordia might not be as abandoned as people assumed. Gently landing his fighter, he began to head out into the forests of Concordia.

 **With the Council**

"It seems that a Mandalorian Bounty Hunter by the name of Jango Fett was hired to kill the Senator." Mace Windu said as the council had gathered quickly after Kenobi had sent a message from a far-off system called Kamino. Actually, the most interesting thing was that the systems location and information was purged from the Jedi Archives, which was quite vast mind you.

"And where is Naruto in this?" Plo Koon questioned. For some reason, all communication with Naruto was been blocked, and as such they had no idea where he was.

"From what we know, Naruto's last report stated that he was on a lead to an organization that had sent an assassin to kill the Senator." Shaak Ti answered as Mace Windu narrowed his eyes.

"Did he state the name of this organization?" Windu questioned as Shaak Ti nodded.

"Naruto's report talked about an Mandalorian armor assassin, who only gave the name Death Watch." Shaak Ti stated before Windu raised an eyebrow, that was a…creative name.

"And what happened to the assassin?" Mundi questioned as Shaak Ti thought over her answer, conflicted on what she should say, but alas, she spoke the truth.

"He didn't say." She answered as much of the council looked at her, befuddled.

"Are you sure he didn't?" Plo Koon questioned. This was quite worrying as Naruto knew what the orders were; to bring in any suspects for questioning unless the situation went south. Naruto had subdued the suspect and just left him? It was concerning.

"We will talk about this to Uzumaki once he's back, but for now, we need to deal with our current situation." Windu spoke. Their current situation was quite unique. The Senator was sent back to her home planet of Naboo with Anakin as her guard undercover, Obi Wan had just discovered the assassin, bounty hunter or whatever on a far-off system called Kamino. Not only that, but an army of Clones was discovered by Kenobi, with the Kaminoans saying that the order for an army was put down by Master Sifo-Dyas on the behalf of the council. The only problem? The Order had never authorized such a deal to go through. And then there was Naruto, who's current location was unknown.

"Clouded by the Dark Side, the future is." Master Yoda spoke up as everyone turned to him. He had kept quiet for the most part, soaking in the information that was being thrown out, all of it disturbing him.

"Contact Obi-Wan, we must. To know his progress." Yoda advised. For now, they would get a hold of Obi-Wan and his progress regarding his mission. After that they would decide on what to do.

"I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi." Windu said as everyone looked at him with grim agreement. Yoda frowned at that. There was something off about the whole thing. Why did Sifo-Dyas put an order for a Clone Army? Why wasn't the council informed about this army earlier? On top of this, Sifo-Dyas' death itself was quite mysterious. If Obi-Wan's hunch was right, however. They would need this army now more than ever.

"Go to Kamino, I will." Yoda said as everyone nodded.

"Now then, how do we get ahold of Master Uzumaki? I fear that he might he heading into a trap." Mace Windu questioned. This whole thing reeked like a trap, and Naruto's foresight as of late was lacking. Obi-Wan was onto a solid lead, but Naruto? Naruto was after a name. Not only that, but not even a person, but an organization from the sounds of it. What did Death Watch have to achieve by targeting the Senator? The Separatists had more motives then this unknown organization, whose motives remained unknown.

"Naruto will turn up soon. Trap or not, he's not so easily bamboozled." Kit Fisto answered as many of those who trained Naruto nodded. The young man was strong with the Force and even his own energy source was quite powerful in its own ways. Seeing that the majority had faith in Naruto, the council had come to a session as preparations needed to be made.

 **Concordia**

"Abandoned…yeah right, the Temple library is more abandoned then this." Naruto whispered as he walked through a supposedly abandoned mine, which looked more like a factory with all the weapons, and armor laying around. A while ago, he had stumbled upon a supposed abandoned mine, which had a few speeder bikes parked outside of it. Knowing that something wasn't right, Naruto ventured off into the mine and discovered it to be in very good condition, odd for a mine that was abandoned years ago.

"Something isn't right here…" Naruto frowned as he observed the armor, made from Mandalorian steel. Approaching some of the weapons, he narrowed his eyes as he looked at the thermal detonator, which was active…and primed.

"Oh sh -" Naruto didn't get to finish his curse as he was blown back by the explosive force of the detonator and slammed into one of the machines. He was lucky that he wasn't burned by the explosive weapon.

"So, you survived? Matters not, you die here Jedi!" He heard a voice, muffled by a helmet, before he began to hear the roar of jetpacks descending all around him. Relying on his force senses completely, Naruto ducked to avoid being decapitated. Thinking quickly, he kicked the offending Mandalorian right in the knee cap, causing the man to scream before Naruto activated his saber and slashed it along the man's chest, causing him to fall back, dead.

"You must be Death Watch." Naruto spoke as he stood up and got into his stance, looking around at the Mandalorian warriors before him and then to the one he had killed. He heard chuckling as he spotted one Mandalorian whose armor was of different coloring.

"Yes, we are Death Watch, however, that information will die with you." The obvious leader of the group stated as Naruto narrowed his eyes, his saber at the ready, while his free hand hovered over his blaster, it was time to put his skills with the blaster to use.

"Then come at me." Naruto stated as four Mandalorians charged at him and began to fire their blasters as Naruto deflected most of them back, but the Mandalorians were able to dodge them. Seeing that blasters weren't going to work, they got closer, close enough to engage in close quarters combat.

"You guys aren't very bright, are you?" Naruto said rather coldly as he leaned back to dodge a punch, before he quickly sidestepped to dodge a vibroblade. Quickly bringing the saber behind him, parallel to his body, he blocked an attack from behind. Seeing two Mandalorians before him, he quickly raised his blaster and fired at the two, killing them instantly. He wasted no time as he spun around another attacker and brought down his saber, striking at the Mandalorians jetpack, causing the said warrior to fly off and hitting the ceiling. He then turned his attention to the six other Mandalorians not yet incapacitated. Their leader gave a fierce scowl that went unseen underneath his helmet.

"For what purpose did you attack the Senator?" Naruto questioned. He needed answers, and a dead body can't give you answers. The Mandalorian chuckled as Naruto frowned. The man had just lost three of his warriors and he just chuckles?

"I don't know what you're talking about. We never attacked no senator" The Mandalorian answered as Naruto blinked. He had expected something like revenge, orders, or something along those lines. He didn't expect him to straight up deny it.

"Your lying." Naruto questioned the man, who froze for a second and brought his hand up to his helmet's side, a transmitter. The man nodded before he signaled to the others.

"Know this Jedi, Mandalore will rise again, and the Duchess will not be able to stop the resurrection of the true Mandalore!" The man yelled before he pressed a detonator, causing smoke to fill the whole underground facility. Naruto made a move to attack but saw that his saber had hit nothing. As the smoke subsided, he saw that he whole area empty.

"Damn!" He growled. They had gotten away! He would have looked around more in-order to pursue them, but he began to hear beeping sounds all over the facility. Looking up at the ceiling, he saw thermal detonators…lots and lots of thermal detonators. He quickly turned and ran, heading out of the facility as explosions rocked the whole underground mine. He crushed as saw the exit to the mine starting to collapse.

"Oh no, I am not dying to a cave in." Naruto whispered as he brought his right hand back as he neared the exit and just before he was a few feet from it he shot the hand towards the exit with was starting to cave in. This caused the rocks blocking the exit to be thrown out of the exit, clearing the path as Naruto shot out of the tunnel just before it all collapsed behind him. The instant he let up on his Force senses, he stumbled over a rock and tripped head over ass.

"Double damn…" Naruto groaned out as he righted himself and turned to look at the collapsed mine. Sighing, he decided that it was time to head back and report to the council since he had lost the lead on the Mandalorians warriors by alerting them. They would go further into hiding now that they knew that they were being pursued. Beginning the long trek back to his Delta-7 aethersprite, only to find the astromech unit beeping like crazy.

"What do you mean that the Order has tried to reach me _five times_?" Naruto questioned the astromech, who in turn just beeped. Naruto groaned as he boarded his fighter and brought up the communications systems.

"This is Jedi Knight Naruto Uzumaki, come in." Naruto spoke through his on-board communicator. No response. Frowning, he took notice that the systems had been sabotaged, prevent any sort of communications from being received, but also made to make sure it seemed like it was working on his side.

"And you just _**now**_ noticed this?" Naruto questioned as the Astromech unit beeped a few more times as Naruto sighed. Thankfully, it didn't take long for the blasted Droid to fix part of the communications array, and a holorecording of one Mace Windu appeared before him, and he was less than pleased.

 _"Master Uzumaki, you are requested to return to the Temple. Your mission to pursue the Senator's assassins is put on indefinite hold. We need you back here. Immediately. Please respond."_ Master Windu ordered before the transmission was cut. Naruto blinked before his face furled into a look that was part disgust, part amazement.

"Oh, hey there Naruto. We tried to reach you five times. Are you okay?" Naruto mocked, briefly wondering if there was any concern for others in Mace Windu at all. Pressing a few buttons, he took the fighter up, heading back to the temple.

 **So? What yh think? Good? Bad? Leave a review! They always help me and my beta writer/reader to fix things, come up with ideas and more! Well, see you all next time! Bye!**


	11. Spark

**Hello there! How are you all doing? Good I hope! Look what I have brought for you! Yes! A new chapter for this story! Now, first things first, I know that some of you are pissed at the fact that Sasuke and Naruto's world might be included but hear me out. Naruto's world, along with any of its character other than Naruto that is, will not play any major role in the galactic affair. They are a mere stepping stone for Naruto's journey. Due to the fact that their technology is so far behind and the fact that they are located in the deep Unknown region, its impossible to find them unless there is a very strong force user on the planet to guide other force users. It's impossible to find them, so they will be tucked away, simply as that. So, don't go all ranting about how the story is ruined when yh don't even know what will happen. No, it's not going to become a Shinobi in space with superpower and weapons crossover, that will never happen. This will take a more realistic approach. No Shinobi Empire, no assassins in space army, none of that. Just trust me, ok?**

 **With that out of the way, I hope you all enjoy this chapter as me and the beta writer/reader find it quite an epic one, enjoy, oh before I forget, their have bene changes made to chapter 1. Nothing major, just made so it flowed well. Give it a look if you want. Bye!**

Jumping out of hyperspace, Naruto's starfighter quickly made its way to the surface of Coruscant. It wasn't long ago that he was contacted by the Jedi Council and told to return as soon as possible. He had quickly made his way back since his lead back on Mandalore lead to a dead-end with Death Watch going dark shortly after their encounter. A complete waste of time.

"R4, did you get anything?" Naruto asked his astromech. Prior to jumping into hyperspace, he asked his astromech to scan the Mandalore system as broadly as possible, wanting to know if he could catch any Death Watch ships sneaking in. The astromech beeped for a few seconds before Naruto sighed. Nothing. It seems like that Death Watch was quite elusive. Disappointed, he slowly parked his Delta-7 in the hanger. He quickly exited the fighter and began to head towards the council chambers. He noticed an unusual amount of Jedi preparing for a mission. Rarely were more than half a dozen Jedi sent on any one mission.

"Look who's back." He heard Siri call out to him from the group. Turning about, he spotted a smirking Siri.

"Well, not much I can do when the council summons me." Naruto countered as he turned around and resumed his walk towards the chambers. Siri frowned slightly as she jogged up to him and matched his pace.

"They called you back? D-do you know what for?" She questioned him hesitantly as Naruto hummed choosing to ignore the worry in her voice.

"Don't know, but odds are it's about the assassins." Naruto answered as Siri nodded at that.

"Speaking about assassins, weren't you off chasing some?" She questioned him regarding his adventure, to which he sighed.

"It was a false lead. Meant to be a wild goose chase, and I was the fool who fell for it." Naruto answered as Siri chuckled.

"Well, you were pretty adamant about hunting them down. I know that Padme is a close friend." She reasoned as Naruto shook his head trying to hide his distress.

"I am a Jedi Knight. Hell, I could even become a Jedi Master in a few years, and I was fooled by a false lead. I didn't wait to investigate further, I charged in without thinking." Naruto stated as they reached the door which led to the chamber. Siri sighed as she listened to Naruto.

"True, but that is what makes you, well, you." Siri said as she turned to rejoin the large group of Jedi that seemed to be growing, leaving a confused Naruto. Was she implying that him rushing in was a good thing? He shook his head, right now there were more important matters. Taking a deep breath, the doors to the chamber opened, allowing Naruto in. As he looked around, he noticed that only Masters Windu and Mundi were waiting for him.

"Master Uzumaki, I see that you have returned. Good." Windu spoke up as all attention turned to the blond, who simply nodded.

"Yes, I received your transmission." Naruto stated as he walked up and stood in the center.

"Where's Master Yoda and... well... _everyone_?" Naruto questioned as Windu leaned forward a bit.

"Master Yoda is away on an important political mission; however, it is Obi-Wan we need to discuss about." He answered as Naruto raised an eyebrow, what happened this time?

"Kenobi?" He questioned as the Master nodded.

"Master Kenobi has discovered something unpleasant." Master Mundi stated, causing Naruto to narrow his eyes, he had a bad feeling about this.

"Which is?" Naruto questioned.

"He has discovered a Droid army on the planet of Geonosis, however, we fear that he has been taken prisoner." Windu answered as Naruto's eyes slightly widened. A Droid army? Like the Trade Federation had?

"And you want to send someone to save Kenobi?" Naruto questioned thinking they were going to send him. Wouldn't be the first time he was sent on a rescue mission.

"Yes and no." Windu answered, causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow, what was that supposed to mean.

"Not only has Obi-Wan likely been captured, but we've been unable to get into contact with young Skywalker and Senator Amidala. We fear they may have also been taken prisoner." Plo Koon elaborated a bit on the subject. Naruto narrowed his eyes further, this time in slight anger. Knowing Anakin, he probably rushed in to save Obi-Wan without thinking and led Padme into a warzone.

"Then we must act fast." Naruto proposed, but was silenced as Mace Windu raised a hand.

"And we will. Master Yoda has already left to acquire the means to carry out the rescue, but, if Obi-Wan's reports were true, then Dooku is behind this army, and as such the Separatist alliance are readying for war." Windu said as Naruto frowned grimly, it _was_ the Trade Federation.

"And what does this all have to do with me?" Naruto questioned as Shaak Ti chose to speak this time.

"We must respond to the threat of force. The Jedi are defenders of the Republic. I will personally lead a team ahead to attempt to capture Count Dooku and end this war before it even begins." Windu stated as Naruto hummed. Is that what that massive team of Jedi was gathering for? Before he could get a word in, it was time for Master Mundi to speak up.

"You'll be joining us as part of the rescue team to save Senator Amidala and our Jedi comrades." Naruto looked at Ki-Adi Mundi in shock.

"Are you sure? Surely there are other Jedi that are more skilled." Naruto reasoned as Windu shook his head.

"Your skill, notwithstanding, isn't the only thing that matters. Your experience in the chaos of war will be indispensable." Windu stated as Naruto nodded with a serious face.

"When do we leave?" Naruto questioned as Windu smirked, knowing Naruto would be up for this task.

"Meet in this hanger in about an hour. From there, we head to Geonosis." Windu answered as Naruto nodded. This would be quite the battle, even for him.

"But Masters, this is a highly dangerous mission, no, it's not just a mission any more, this is literally going to be the first battle of a war... Just how many Jedi do we plan on sending?" Naruto reasoned. There were about ten thousand Jedi in the Order, but most of them were away on missions. Take away the Padawans and Younglings, as well as the inexperienced Knights, and there weren't many Jedi that had a chance of surviving on Geonosis. He might be experienced in the art of war, but that was on a smaller scale. This was going to be a planetary battle, an invasion.

"According to my count, over two hundred Knights and Masters. A few Padawans who have shown exemplary skill have also been selected." Master Mundi finished. Naruto was dumbstruck. A force of only two hundred Jedi would likely be slaughtered by the Trade Federation's army, which probably numbers in the millions by now.

"Naruto... You have shown great strength, valor, determination, tenacity, and so much more. You are more qualified than you think. Despite your unorthodox methods and general disregard for authority, you are a great Jedi Knight. I have no doubt you'll soon reach the rank of Master. Go back to your quarters and ready yourself. We leave soon." Mace Windu ordered as Naruto dumbly nodded. Turning around, he exited the chambers heading to his quarters.

"You ok?" Siri questioned as he looked like he was in a trance. Slowly he turned to her, a serious face.

"You know…" Naruto started as Siri blinked before she realized what he was saying. She nodded grimly.

"They've been gathering anyone with combat experience…" Siri started as Naruto sighed. Like him, Siri was almost a Jedi Master, of course she would be brought along. He had expected this to happen. They need as many Jedi as possible.

"Then you know where we are going?" Naruto questioned as Siri shook her head.

"No, they haven't told us where we are going, but it's to a battlefield, isn't it?" She questioned. She was stupid. She knew what was on the horizon. Naruto walked toward and grabbed her shoulder.

"Siri…on the battlefield, look for me." Naruto pleaded as Siri nodded, seriousness all over her face.

"I will." She answered as she hugged him. The two shared the moment of peace while it lasted, for it would be the last one they would share. They broke the hug after a few minutes with Siri blushing a bit as Naruto grabbed his things. With everything set, Naruto headed out as Siri watched his retreating figure.

"Be safe…" She whispered as she watched him turn the corner, leaving her to her thoughts. She could only hope that she and the others could survive the coming war.

 **With Naruto**

This wouldn't have been the first time he had seen war, and it wouldn't be the last time too. As he walked through the hallways of the temple, he looked at the younglings, the Padawans, and the few Knights he came across, most of which had little experience in actual combat. He and Kenobi were notable exceptions, and there was little doubt in his mind that Obi-Wan would be promoted to Jedi Master before the war ended. For too many this would be baptism through fire. For many it would be their first battle, and for many it would be their last. He frowned at that though, wanting to say that a battlefield is no place for them, but then he would be called a hypocrite. He had fought in a war when he was just a child.

"Naruto!" Naruto sighed at that familiar. Turning around, he dodged the flying body that would have tackled him otherwise.

"Ashoka, what have I told you about doing that?" Naruto questioned as the said Youngling pouted. She had grown quite a bit, but she was still a Youngling. A few more years and she would be a Padawan and off to war she went. He frowned at that thought. She was like a little sister he never had, and the battlefield is the last place he wants her in.

"To not to?" She answered as Naruto chuckled lightly and ruffled her hair, causing her to whine as she tried to swat away his hand.

"Right, now what are you doing –" Naruto was cut off by some shouting behind him.

"Don't let her get away!" He turned to face a few Temple Guards…in pink armor. He blinked at that. Since when did Temple Guards wore pink armor?

"Gah! She went that way!" One of them shouted, pointing behind Naruto, who turned and sweat dropped. All he could see was the outline of where Ashoka was and where she was presently, running as fast as possible with the Temple Guards hot on her heels. He chuckled nervously at that.

 _"Wonder where she picked that up from."_ He thought innocently to himself for a moment, only for his mind to wander back.

Ahsoka was almost 14. She would likely be thrust into the coming war as a someone's Padawan. Naruto hadn't taken on a Padawan learner yet, but with this looming threat, his instinct was to protect Ahsoka, and to do that, he would have to take her on as his Padawan. He would do his best to keep her, and all other Jedi, from having to do as much of the fighting as possible. This was his burden to shoulder.

 **Geonosis**

Geonosis was a harsh planet located within the Outer Rim. Home to a bug like species, the Geonosians. One would simply pass over the planet, as it had nothing to offer in terms of resources. However, recently, the Separatist Alliance, officially known as the Confederacy of Independent Systems, approached the Geonosians to build them an army in secret. The numerous Geonosians proved to be apt laborers, and the droid army was nearly complete.

"Everything is proceeding as planned, my master." One Count Dooku reported as he bowed to the hologram of a hooded man, whose only feature one could see was his nose and mouth.

 _"Good. And what of the prisoners?"_ Dooku's lord questioned as Dooku kept his face down, not meeting the face of his master due to respect and fear.

"They are alive for now." Dooku answered as his master chuckled slightly.

 _"Good, keep them as such. The Senate has just approved the Military Creation Bill and the Jedi will soon arrive to save them. You know your tasks ahead, no?"_ Dooku's master questioned, causing Dooku to nod.

"Yes, Lord Sidious." Dooku answered as Sidious nodded before the hologram faded away. Dooku returned back to his normal upright position as he stared at the spot where his masters hologram once stood.

"When am I paid?" Dooku heard a robotic voice. Turning around, he saw a bounty hunter clad in Mandalorian inspired armor. The bounty hunters face was hidden from his view due to the helmet. Not only that, but the bounty hunter only knew some basic, nothing too advanced.

"You will be compensated for your services after this last mission." Dooku answered as the bounty hunter stood there, before he turned to leave.

"This is the last job…I'd better get paid... or else." The bounty hunter stated, but before he could even take a single step, he was slowly levitated up a few inches as he tried to claw at his neck, trying to break free of the unseen Force choking him.

"Do not forgot who you are talking to, _boy._ " Dooku warned before he let go of the young bounty hunter, who gasped for air while massaging his neck. He quickly stood up and left without saying a word. Dooku huffed as Jango's protege tucked his tail and ran. This kid that Jango had taken on was a remarkable combatant, but he had no capability against the Force.

 **In Orbit Over Coruscant**

Naruto sighed as he boarded the shuttle that would lead him to a much larger vessel. Alongside him was his old masters, and a few other Jedi master's and a handful of Knights.

"I can sense your apprehension. Is everything alright?" Plo Koon questioned his old Padawan. Naruto shook his head. No, nothing was all right.

"There's a war coming, how can everything be alright?" Naruto answered as Plo Koon raised an eyebrow.

"That's a shocking reaction, considering all the little wars you have been involved in. You used to rush headfirst into battle." Plo Koon stated as Naruto sighed once more.

"That's the thing, you, me, the other master's and probably a few others, have experience with this kind of stuff. Most of _them,_ do not." Naruto answered gesturing to the other transports, causing Plo Koon to hum at it.

"Your concern for the Padawans is understandable, but most of those here are experienced Knights or Masters. You shouldn't worry about them." Plo Koon questioned as Naruto nodded grimly.

"The older younglings will soon be pressed into service to fight this war. Probably before they are ready." Naruto stated as Plo nodded at that. Even Master Unduli's Padawan Bariss was chosen to be part of the Jedi Strike Team. It might seem harsh, but they had no choice. The war that would follow, if Dooku escaped, would be fought on a galactic scale with many systems fighting against one another.

"Surely you have more faith in them?" Plo questioned as Naruto frowned.

"I do have faith in them, but war is not about having faith in someone. War cares not for your determination to win. It's all strategy, tactics. All it takes is an intelligent commander to turn the tide of battle. There hasn't been a war on a Galactic scale in over a thousand years. So, I'm not sure anyone in the Republic has enough military minds for a full-scale war." Naruto answered. A small force of a few hundred warriors could defeat a force of a thousand, he had proven that on Naboo and Mandalore, but this was a war between millions of troops. This didn't require short term tactics like Naruto had studied. It required long term strategies and meticulous planning, things that Naruto, by his very personality, didn't have a knack for.

"Then it's a good thing that our enemies have even worse commanders." Plo stated, chuckling. If the reports were true, then the commanders of this Droid army would be the various heads of large trading and manufacturing companies, such as the bumbling Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation. He wouldn't be surprised if they even decided to repurpose protocol droids to be tactical supervisors. Naruto kept quiet as the transports jumped into hyperspace, the clock was ticking, and the war was edging ever closer. He could only hope that he was strong enough to take down Dooku.

 **A Few Hours Later**

"This planet is insufferable." Naruto snarled out as he, along with Mace Windu walked through the rocky formations of Geonosis. It had been a few hours since the Jedi had touched down on the planet.

"We're almost there." Windu spoke as the two climbed a few more rocks. Naruto and Windu were taking the hard way up to the colosseum. It would have been impossible to simply walk through the front door and up to the Counts balcony without raising the alarm. So, they opted to scale the walks, well, Windu had to.

"Sometimes I get the feeling having your abilities would be quite handy." Windu said with a deadpan expression as he watched Naruto travel up the rocky wall in leaps and bounds as he was forced to climb it painstakingly slow. Naruto simply shrugged and continued. He might not know much about Chakra, but he knew enough about it in-order to improve his physical prowess. Climbing a wall of rocks such as this was a cakewalk to him.

"You think they're fine?" Naruto lended the Korun Jedi Master a help hand onto the catwalk as he alluded to the three whose execution was being treated as a sport.

"If they're not dead already, they should be fine. Here." Windu pointed at the opening that led into the large colosseum. The two quickly hurried in as they heard the cheering or whatever those bug like creatures did. Naruto and Mace exchanged a brief glance of acknowledgement as they parted ways. Naruto traversed the nearest vomitorium and entered the spectator stands of the arena listening to the roar of the crowd. Naruto's eyes focused on the subject

Looking around, he noticed the two hundred and ten Jedi that had hidden themselves amongst the crowd of spectators that failed to notice the small army of Jedi that had blended in effortlessly, thanks to the Force. Every available Jedi that was worth their salt was waiting for the moment to strike.

All except for Master Windu, of course.

 **With Dooku**

Dooku had thought that everything would go his way, it didn't. He had expected the execution to proceed with ease, expect it didn't. Obi Wan, along with his two other prisoners had managed to get lose from their chains and managing to hijack one of the beasts. In the end, he had to call in some Droids to kill his prisoners. He was unable to give out the order as a purple light radiated behind him. Dooku turned to see, passing right below the neck of Jango Fett, was a purple Lightsaber.

"Master Windu, how good of you to join us." Dooku spoke as the slowly turned around, looking at Windu with a small smile. Jango wasn't your average bounty hunter. The man was known as one of the best bounty hunters out there.

"This party's over." Windu spoke, causing the count to divert his attention back to him. All around the arena, Jedi's emerged from their cover, lightsaber in hand. Naruto's Ghostfire crystal ignited with a sharp snap-hiss before calming down to a still hum.

"I must commend you my old friend, brave, but foolish. You're impossibly outnumbered." Dooku stated the fact, causing Windu to smirk.

"Oh, I don't think so." Windu replied, causing Dooku to raise an eyebrow before he let out a small chuckle.

"We'll see." He stated with a smirk as the sound of metal marching was heard from the hallway behind them. Windu glanced back to see four large and metallic looking Battle Droids who aimed their wrist blasters at the dark-skinned Jedi Master.

This caused Windu to focus on the incoming barrage of laser bolts as Dooku and his bounty hunter quickly moved to the side. Jango took this opportunity and used his flame thrower, causing Windu to do a backflip and landing in the arena, Jango looked towards Dooku, who nodded, and Fett activated his jetpack, following right behind the Jedi Master.

 **With Naruto**

Naruto leapt from the stands and joined his fellow Jedi as he stood up with slight tingling sensation in the hand he used to catch himself, but he was quickly forced to go on the defensive as Battle Droids were all over him. Thankfully, they were all mindless Droids, making them easier to cut down.

"Those look new." Naruto commented before a dozen of the so-called Super Battle Droids leveled their wrist blasters and let lose a rain of fire towards him. All the gates of the arena opened up, and like a flood, hundreds, if not thousands of Droids poured into the arena, forcing the Jedi's to go on the defensive. Naruto quickly spun his saber, deflecting the enemy fire and destroying some of the Droids. He then went on the offensive, cutting down Droids after droid.

"Form a perimeter, don't get separated!" Windu yelled as he cut down a few Droids, but more kept coming. He used the Force and threw back a bunch of Droids into each other. Siri meanwhile was trying to find Naruto in the chaos of the battle.

"There!" She said to herself as she brought her saber behind her, deflecting back a bolt from one of the Droids. Thinking quickly, she started to make her way to Naruto, jumping over a few Droids while cutting down some Geonoisian warriors. She landed right behind Naruto, who turned with his saber ready to strike, but halted as he saw Siri. He was going to say something, but the Droids were overwhelming them causing he and Siri to fight back to back.

"You're a bit late" Naruto said as he deflected some fire before sending a strong Force push, crushing some of the Droids.

"Yeah, well you weren't early either." Siri responded as she threw her violet saber into a crowd of Droids, cutting multiple Droids before pulling her spinning saber back with the force and catching it just in time to slash two Super Battle Droids in half. The two fought on, side by side, back to back for quite a while, as evident by the piles of Droids that surrounded the two.

"Siri, catch." Naruto stated as he threw his saber. Catching his saber, she started to duel wield. Naruto pulled his blaster up and started to fire away at the Droids while Siri covered him with the two sabers. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto let loose a volley of blaster fire, bringing down more than two dozen Droids.

"I _**really**_ like this thing." Naruto said with a chuckle as Siri tossed him his saber back, once again cutting down Droids. As the two fought, they got a glimpse of green sparks frying nearly a hundred Droids.

"Was that Master Plo Koon's special technique?" Sir questioned as she ducked while Naruto threw his saber over her head, cutting a few Droids.

"Yeah, that was Electric Judgement. It's probably really effective against these droids, considering the electricity and all." Naruto answered. Looking around, he spotted Kenobi fighting one of the beasts, and Master Windu was locked in a fierce duel with the bounty hunter Fett.

All around him was chaos and he could notice that some of the less experienced Knights were having trouble fighting against the swarm of Droids. More than a dozen Jedi had already been killed, overwhelmed by the relentless barrage of blaster fire.

"Siri, go and help the others. I have an idea." Naruto ordered her to which was as about to protest, but as she turned to look at him she could tell he was up to something.

"Got it." She complied as she quickly leapt into the air before landing on a Battle Droid and resuming her assault, leaving Naruto to his plan. He quickly closed his eyes and began to meditate.

 _"Focus."_ Naruto thought to himself as he took in a deep breath, allowing himself to become one with the Force, to become in perfect sync with it. As he did so, Battle Droids kept on firing as they walked closer and closer to him before they halted their advance and kept on firing, their blaster bolts whizzing by him. They kept one firing, only this time the lasers spotted right before they hit Naruto, as if they were frozen in midair.

"Hold your fire! I said hold your fire!" One of the Droids ordered, but alas his fellow Droids didn't listen as they kept on firing.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." The Droid said to itself as he started to back away. Right at that moment, Naruto's eyes shot open, sending all the blaster fire back at the Droids, bring quite a few of them down.

"Right, let's get to work." Naruto said to himself as he went on the defensive. Even though he was able to use Battle Meditation on the move, it severely hindered his ability to focus on a different task.

 **With Dooku**

Coleman Trebor felt a sudden surge in the Force. Feeling confident, the Vruk Jedi Master leapt from the Petranaki arena into the spectator stands above. He brandished his green lightsaber and readied himself to cut down his former Jedi comrade, but before he could strike, sudden pain welled up from his chest. The Mandalorian bounty hunter behind Dooku had brandished a very expensive looking blaster and had shot him in the chest several times.

Trebor faded into unconsciousness and he tumbled over the balcony railing and careened back into the arena from which he had leapt, his lifeless body marking the first Jedi Master to die in the battle. Jango's protégé holstered his blaster silently as Dooku smirked. This boy was good, even better than his teacher, maybe. It was a shame he was some bounty hunter scum that only worked for money instead of principles.

However, couldn't help but Dooku take notice that many of the Jedi, previously struggling, were now managing to hold their own against the waves of droids. Even some of the younger ones too. Looking down below, he saw how they were slowly pushing forward, the Droids being nearly useless, and the Geonosians even totally so. Master Kit Fisto had made it a priority to take out all of their weapon emplacements. The caste system wasn't too kind to the low born of the Geonosians, and they were being cut down rather quickly

Dooku's frown turned into a slight scowl as he noticed the Jedi were no longer only holding their own but winning. He scanned the battlefield, seeing many faces that he knew were younglings even just ten years ago, most of these Jedi shouldn't ready for a battle such as this, yet they were holding strong and taking far fewer losses. Only about a quarter of the Jedi had fallen. Had they really improved so much so quickly, and only the weaker ones had been cut down? Then a wave of dread washed over him. He began to sweat and almost choked as he felt the raw power of the Force.

 _"Battle Meditation."_ Dooku thought as his eyes scanned the battlefield. Only a very few knew how to use that ability. Not more than a few dozen in the order. Looking down below, he saw no Jedi sitting and meditating. As expected, that kind of technique would be a death sentence on the battlefield. That narrowed his sights on the one person he'd heard of being able use it on the move, Naruto Uzumaki.

"Boy." Dooku suddenly spoke up. "I need you to kill him." the armor-clad man heard as he turned to look at the Count, who looked at the bounty hunter with a stern face. The bounty hunter had thus far only observed the battle beside the Count after Jango had jumped down to fight Windu.

"That boy has a unique Jedi ability known as Battle Meditation. If he's not snapped out of it soon enough, the Jedi will rally. He's going to be more trouble than he's worth. I want to you kill him now, before the situation gets out of hand." The Count singled out the blond-haired Knight that he had met on a few occasions before. Doing as ordered, as the bounty hunter looked at the Count before he slowly nodded, jumping down into the arena, which was in total chaos as Battle Droids swarmed the rallying Jedi. Wave after wave being cut down by saber swipes and reflected blaster bolts. Dooku tried hard to keep his expression in check, but his face betrayed his thoughts with a stern from.

 **In the Arena**

Naruto was about to lend aid to some of the Jedi but found his path blocked, as the same bounty hunter from Pantora jumped in front of him. Naruto narrowed his eyes before he charged at the bounty hunter. As Naruto raised his saber to strike down the bounty hunter, the man brought up his blade and blocked Naruto's strike with ease. Naruto growled as he found himself on the defensive, trying to parry the incoming strikes, as well as the endless onslaught of blaster fire. Having to focus on Battle Meditation wasn't helping him at all. In-fact, it was working against him. He'd had trouble with this bounty hunter even without distractions hindering him. Naruto fumbled his saber work and he was punished by a sweeping strike that tore into his flesh.

 _"Battle Meditation is supposedly only able to be performed while the user is completely immobile, requiring the users undivided attention. The fact that he can maintain it while holding his ground is truly amazing. Master Sidious, I may have a new apprentice for us."_ Dooku thought as he observed the fight between Naruto and the Bounty Hunter. He knew how Battle Meditation worked, and it's a pity he wasn't capable of using it himself. Naruto was only 25, but his usage of Battle Meditation went beyond any Jedi Master or of any Force sensitive in all of history. If a boy like that took to the battlefield with an entire Clone Legion... it would pose a significant problem.

"Dammit…" Naruto wiped away a bit of blood from the fresh gash on his arm, thanks to the Bounty Hunter. This was getting out of hand. Unlike their fight aboard the transport, the damn bastard could simply use his jetpack to fall back every time he got close. Naruto's gaze wandered to the balcony where his eyes met Dooku's death stare.

"So ol' Dooku is singling me out, huh?" Naruto quipped. And now he was in a dilemma, he couldn't keep Battle Meditation going or else he would most definitely die, and in that case, he couldn't keep it up anyways. Naruto frowned and spat out a curse before he broke his concentration. The Bounty Hunter was the more immediate threat.

"You're not getting away this time." Naruto growled out as he started to set attack after attack. Amazingly, the bounty hunter was keeping up, but it was clearly that he was unable to withstand the speed of Naruto's Form IV strikes. Naruto couldn't help but let a smirk through.

 _"Sure, this guy can move around with his jetpack now, but on the other hand I'm free to use Form IV in an open arena like this."_ Naruto quickly realized that the trade was not an even one, as he began to overpower the bounty hunter, who was still using something akin to Form II. It became more apparent as the bounty hunter began to stumble back as Naruto quickly spun around and tried to slice off the bounty hunters head, only for the bounty hunter to lean back, just enough to save him, but it wasn't enough. Naruto's saber managed to graze the bounty hunter's visor hunter, causing shards of hot molten metal to fall onto the bounty hunters face.

"God dammmiiit!" The bounty hunter cursed loudly in pain as he struggled to open his left eye, revealing it to be blood red with three strange black dots circling around the pupil. Those were some freaky eyes. The long vertical scar over the boy's eye didn't calm his frightening visage, that wasn't something he had caused. Naruto took notice that his opponent sounded rather young.

Charging forward once more, the Bounty Hunter dodged his strikes even more he could see them, it was as if he was able to see his movement prior to the attack. Once more the Bounty Hunter tried to use his jetpack to fall back, only for Naruto to smirk before using the Force and pulling the Bounty Hunter back towards him.

"Not this time." Naruto commented, his saber ready to go through the Mandalorian warrior's chest and would have if it wasn't for the barrage of blaster fire he had to dodge. Rolling over to the side, Naruto used his legs to jump forward towards his target, still recovering from being Force pulled into the ground, only for his strike to be blocked once more.

"Why won't you just die already?!" Naruto shouted in frustration. Why was it so hard to kill a simple Bounty Hunter? Not even realizing it, Naruto began to search through the Force to find more strength to defeat this guy. But the only strength available to him was the power of the Nine Tails, and Kurama was more than willing to lend it to him.

Naruto's whiskers slightly darkened, and his nails grew a bit. The small injection of the Fox's power was enough to make Naruto's next strike completely shatter his opponent's defense. The Bounty Hunter tried to block and when he managed to get good enough footing to parry, dust was kicked up from the shockwave of Naruto's strikes. Not only were his strikes stronger, they were getting faster, too fast for the Bounty Hunter. With one final strike, Naruto managed to stumble the man back, causing him to trip and lose grip on his sword.

Looking around, he noticed that the Jedi's began to lose ground, and probably twice as many of the Knights and master's had fallen in the short time, even a few of the Jedi had also praised in battle. Shaking his head, he quickly moved in for the final strike. He needed to end this right now and reengage Battle Meditation before long, but as he was about to deliver the final strike, he was thrown away by the raging Reek.

Naruto grunted as he stood back up, turning look at the beast, only for his eyes to widen. There sat Padme on the raging beast, kissing Anakin on the cheek.

" _W-What?_ " He thought. Was this an illusion? No, this was very real, even if he wished it wasn't. Kurama started roaring with laughter

 **"Looks like you were fooled by that wench!"** the Fox shouted in his mind with joy, ready to tempt Naruto to give in and surrender to his power even more, but Naruto shook his head, more resolved than before.

No, this was a good thing. This development brought him…relief? It meant that it was never his fault. It wasn't anything he did that caused her to break it off, she was the one who did it. In that moment, he had a sense of clarity. Even though Anakin had stolen away the love of his life, and Padme betrayed his trust, he was in a battlefield. His whiskers thinned, and his red eyes faded back to their baby blue. And with all doubts washed away from him, he went on the offensive against the bounty hunter, Form IV at the ready.

But it was his opponent who made the first strike, using his jetpack to flip over Naruto and strike from above. Naruto parried the surprising blow and exchanged blows with the bounty hunter, who began swinging his blade in wide arcs and broad strokes reminiscent of Form IV. Naruto couldn't help but do a double take, taken aback by the realization.

Was this son of a bitch _**copying**_ him?

The nerve of this guy! He was using his jetpack as a substitute for the Force jumps required and had started using Form IV cadences just from watching Naruto fight with it. Was this bastard mocking him?

Naruto was snapped out of his stupor by the vibroblade clashing against his ghostfire saber. Naruto parried the blow using a technique he borrowed from Form V and resumed the battle. This guy might have learned his moves, but he was no Jedi, and when he again leapt into the air with his jetpack, Naruto was ready to punish him for his arrogance.

Jumping backwards into the air, Naruto avoided the incoming blade and did a front flip, at the end of his arc he landed a heavy kick into the back of his opponent, sending his vibrosword flying out of his hands and slamming him heavily into the ground. Just because you can learn my techniques doesn't mean you can perform them right. Unlike Naruto, this guy's speed wasn't enhanced by the Force, and so despite his unnatural ability to learn things on the fly, he couldn't keep up with the speed requirements to perform the acrobatic maneuvers of Form IV.

"Who are you?!" Naruto roared during his Force-enhanced dash, he got no response as the bounty hunter hurriedly pulled out his blaster and began to fire rapidly at Naruto, forcing him on the defensive.

"Damn, he's really got quite the aim with that thing." Naruto thought as he spun his saber, deflecting the incoming fire while moving up at a decent speed. Once he was close enough, he quickly jumped up, landing behind the bounty hunter. Quickly turning around, Naruto slashed at the him, cutting through the jetpack as the bounty hunter rolled forward to grab his vibrosword.

"Not so mobile now, are you?" Naruto taunted as the bounty hunter narrowed his visible eye behind his helmet as he crouched down on all fours, firing the rocket he had stored on his jetpack. Naruto's eyes widened as he had to jump to the side to avoid the rocket. The rocket exploded, instantly killing two nearby Jedi, and launching Naruto and a handful of others nearly a dozen feet back. Stumbling up with a new gash leaking blood from his forehead, Naruto found that he also had a very serious wound on his abdomen. Coughing up some blood as the bounty hunter rushed towards him, his vibrosword in hand.

"Now you die, Jedi." The bounty hunter spoke as he stumbled towards Naruto back. As he raised his sword to strike down Naruto, Naruto quickly turned towards the bounty hunter, focusing a tremendous of Chakra into his hand, and slammed his empowered fist into the stomach of the bounty hunter. The man's eye widened in shock at the force of the blow, launching him back all the way across the arena and crashing into the stands. It was safe to say that he was out of battle for now. As Naruto panted, Siri quickly rushed to him and engulfed him in a tight hug.

"You ok?" Siri asked softly as she kept him in the embrace.

" _Y-ye-aaah_ …! You can let _g-go_ now…" Naruto winced in pain as Siri blushed in embarrassment and quickly let go. Naruto wobbled a bit, but quickly found his balance and sighed. He coughed up even more blood as he noticed a shard of rock had lodged itself into his stomach.

"Let me take care of that." Siri offered as she pulled out a medical kit from her belted red jumpsuit and quickly removed the shard of rock, Naruto fell to his knees and almost passed out from the pain but managed to keep his wits about him.

"We're suffering heavy casualties." He heard his companion say through the daze as she treated his wounds and deflected a few stray blaster bolts at the same time. His eyes wandered the arena, his fellow Jedi being shot down in heaps. They were simply being overwhelmed by the sheer number of Battle Droids. Siri had to stand up to deflect a handful of bolts back at droids before she turned back to resume work on Naruto.

But it seemed all for nothing, for just as soon as she reached for Naruto, more blaster fire came their way. Naruto raised his saber to deflect what he could, but he couldn't cover Siri from his kneeling position, who had a glancing bolt singe her shoulder. Naruto was about to stand up and simply deal with having a gaping wound in his stomach for the rest of the battle, but a blue lightsaber blocked the incoming fire and a quick volley of blaster bolts took care of the offending droids. Naruto looked up to see two familiar faces.

"It seemed like you were having some trouble" he heard Skywalker say as he fought back the Droids heading their way, with Padme firing a blaster from behind the cover of his saber. Siri doubled her focus on treating Naruto with the two covering them. Naruto felt the familiar sting of a coagulant stop the bleeding in his abdomen.

"Thanks, Siri." Naruto thanked her as she nodded, glad he was ok. With the bleeding stopped, Naruto once again focused on his Battle Mediation. Morale again swelled among the Jedi, but alas, Naruto could see the battle was already over. It was too late and too many Jedi had fallen. It was only a matter of time until the droids would overwhelm their defenses. If that was to be their fate, they would at least take out as many droids as he possibly could.

Naruto quickly jumped into the middle of the fight against Siri's wishes, deflecting blaster fire that was headed towards his former Master, Plo Koon. Siri too jumped into the fray as the Droids kept on coming. They were being boxed in as more and more Droids flooded into the arena. As they were boxed into a circle in the center of the arena, the Droids came to a halt and lowered their blasters. Naruto released a breath he didn't know he was holding as he kept his guard up.

 **In Orbit**

While the battle raged on down below at the planet, high in the orbit of the rocky planet, a Fleet of large transports exited from hyperspace. There were quite a few of them, around 24 and all of them bore the mark of the Republic.

"Master Yoda, we have arrived. Orders?" A trooper, clad in white armor with gold chevrons, inquired Master Yoda as the said Grand Master observed the planet before him.

"Begin landing the main force, you should. Lead a group to save the Jedi, I will." Yoda answered as he turned around and hobbled to the hanger of the large transport.

"You heard the General! Sergeant, get those troopers into the gunships!" the Clone Commander shouted. As he did, Yoda watched the Clones ready for themselves for their inaugural battle.

 **Back on the Ground**

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he danced around the arena cutting down droids. He growled as one of the Geonosians shouted with guttural glee next to him.

"Master Windu, you have fought gallantly." Dooku's voice echoed throughout the Petranaki arena as they looked up towards the gallery where Dooku stood. Windu kept his cool as he looked around and saw that of the two hundred and ten Jedi that had first landed, there were maybe about a hundred or so that had managed to hold their ground and stay alive.

"Worthy of recognition in the archives of the Jedi Order." Dooku continued as Naruto narrowed his eyes, watching the Droids herd the defeated Jedi into the center of the Arena as the Count continued his short monologue. Dooku was surprised just how many Jedi had managed to survive the onslaught. His Master had only wanted a handful, at most a quarter of the Jedi to remain, but here he was staring at nearly half the Jedi brought alive and well.

"Now, it is finished. Surrender and your lives will be spared." Dooku offered as Naruto had enough at that point.

"We will not be your hostages to be bartered, Dooku." Mace Windu spoke as Dooku frowned at that, disappointed by their choice.

"Then…I'm sorry my old friend." Dooku stated as the Droids readied their blasters. The Jedi tensed up, their Lightsabers at the ready. He was somewhat saddened by his former comrade's decision, but alas he gave the order. Dooku was broken out of his thoughts as he heard the roar of engines from above.

"Look!" Padme exclaimed as everyone turned their heads to the skies above. Large warships flew over the arena, with gunships descending into the arena and attacking the Droids. The gunships descended into the arena in a blaze of glory, their composite beam lasers ripping the droids to ribbons. Dooku only caught a glimpse of Yoda, who was observing the battle from aboard one of the gunships.

"Around the survivors, a perimeter, create." Yoda ordered as gunships swooped in, forming a circle around the Jedi. The main gunner fired green high-powered laser cannons at the Droids, cutting right through them. Some of the gunships were hitting the heads of the Droids as they moved around closer to the ground.

Soldiers clad in white armor jumped out of the gunships and started to provide covering fire for the Jedi who began to board the gunships. Naruto's instincts kicked in, and he began to cover their escape as well. As he did so, he began to retreat towards the gunships. He wasn't about to give his life for nothing with the opportunity to escape.

It was quickly apparent that the clones had brought too few gunships, and so they had to take off with the first group of Jedi aboard, a dozen more clone troopers descended into the arena with a fresh set of gunships. The remaining Jedi wasted no time as they began to board the gunships as the troopers covered them. Naruto however stayed behind, making sure everyone was on board as he became the center of focus for the Droids.

"Come on Naruto!" He heard Siri as the gunships began to hover. Seeing that everyone was on board, Naruto jumped and did a backflip, landing inside the gunship as Siri's eyebrow twitched.

"Show off." She commented as Naruto flashed her a grin, causing her to scoff sarcastically and look away.

"Excellent work, Master Naruto. Thanks to you, a great many Jedi, saved today they were. Of that, I do not doubt." Naruto heard a voice from beside him, which he immediately recognized as Master Yoda's. Taking a minute to adjust to his surroundings, he noticed Masters Windu and Mundi had boarded Yoda's gunship along with him and Siri.

"Thank you, Master Yoda." Naruto responded courteously. "But I'm only doing what comes natural to me." Naruto then turned back to look at the battlefield ahead as multiple large transport ships landed to unload tens of thousands of Clones. However, he was taken out of his thoughts as the gunship's IM-6 medical droid began poking and prodding him to treat his wounds for the upcoming battle.

Dooku could only look on with a frown. Even through this was all part of the plan, he was unable to inflict the amount of loses on the Jedi he had hoped. Still, he had achieved his objective. It was time to leave.

Off in the stands, the bounty hunter grunted in pain as he sat up, fixing his helmet. Looking around, he saw the gunships decimating the Droids as they covered for the Jedi's.

 _"_ Dammit _."_ His body was in pain and he was bleeding from the mouth thanks to the gut punch he had received. Looked down in the arena and frowned as he spotted the decapitate body of one Jango Fett. Giving out a deep huff, the bounty hunter only briefly lamented the death of his teacher, he was more saddened by the sight of his son Boba clenching his father's helmet.

Dooku probably thought he was dead along with Jango, too. No point in staying and fighting for someone who wasn't going to pay a man he thought dead. He coughed up a bit more blood as he wobbled out of the arena to where his ship was located.

"Boba." He spoke, snapping the young boys' attention towards him. "Salvage what you can and then meet me back at our ships. You'll have to pilot Slave I. You can do it, right?" Boba nodded, tears lightly streaming from his eyes. Acknowledging Boba's reply, he continued dragging his feet towards the exit.

He was done with this fight and done with Dooku's bullshit missions. He hadn't been punched that hard in quite some time, and he wasn't about to go into a battle unprepared like that again. No way he could take on a powerful Force user like that blond, especially not while injured.

He would have to get stronger.

 **So? How was it? Good? Bad? You decide! What did you think about that fight? I am assuming you all know who that bounty hunter was and by no means can he beat Naruto in a fight. He does not have the Force and as such any Force user of Naruto's caliber presents a serious threat. With that said, leave a review and a like. Also, the pairings will not change, they are locked and caped at 3 girls for Naruto. No more no less. Bye!**


	12. Fire

**Hello everyone! How are you all doing? Good I hope! Anyways, I got the latest chapter for this story right and it's long, very long. We worked on this quite a bit and wanted it to be good like our other chapters for you guys to read. I would like to thank my beta reader as he has done a magnificent job with all these chapters I have sent him. Also, the pairings had not changed! They are the same and will be the same! I guess that is all for now. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, bye!**

The battle within the Arena had been a bloody one, but the battle was far from over as evident by the massive Acclamator assault ships that had begun to land to unload Clones and equipment.

The gunship was being rattled constantly by flak from the enemy anti-air cannons. Everyone, sans Yoda and Naruto, was holding tight onto some part of the gunship. The Clone pilot did his best to avoid the incoming barrage. Suddenly, a shockwave sent the Jedi reeling as a nearby gunship was blown out of the sky, the four Jedi inside dying instantly. Naruto quickly steadied himself with a bit more chakra, but he couldn't steady his quivering hands, so he resorted to balling them into fists.

"Another one…" Naruto muttered. They had evacuated from the arena, but the losses didn't stop there. Of the two hundred and twelve Jedi that took part in the arena battle, only about ninety-four had survived. Of that number, roughly seventy-six - er, make that seventy-two - were deemed fit for combat and were in transit to the main theatre of battle. The more seriously injured Jedi had been taken to the field trauma center for treatment. As the gunships approached closer and closer to the battlefield, Naruto could see the battle from above and it was of epic proportions.

"So, what's the plan?" Siri questioned him as Naruto shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. I'm not aware of this army's capabilities yet." Naruto answered as he turned to look at Yoda, who in turn looked at Windu. Sensing their uncertain stares, Windu surveyed the battlefield, his gaze turning to the massive core ships. Those would have to be taken care of.

"What about Dooku?" Siri questioned as the others looked at Yoda, who hummed.

"If Dooku escapes, rally more systems to his cause, he will." Yoda proclaimed as Naruto hummed at that.

"Master Yoda, our priority should be to track him down. We can end this war before it even begins. The five of us should be able to take on Dooku." Naruto proposed his plan. Windu and Mundi were about to agree, Siri was about to protest, but Yoda shook his head before any of them could speak.

"On the battlefield, our experience, needed it is. Especially your tactics, Master Uzumaki." Yoda explained as Naruto sighed, letting the issue go. Windu then took the opportunity and started to explain the strategy he had devised.

"Those Core ships cannot be allowed to leave. Each one contains enough battle droids to conquer an entire system. Our forces are engaging the Droid army, trying to make a way for the heavy artillery to land. However, the area they are located is a flat barren field without almost no cover. An open field assault seems to be our only option." Windu started as Naruto shook his head.

"No, it isn't. I can see we have ordinance down there. Redeploy any damaged walkers perpendicular to the battle lines, use them as makeshift cover as we make our advance. If there are any totally destroyed, a Jedi should be able to move the wreckage with the Force." Naruto suggested. Windu took some time to consider it before agreeing silently, but Siri voiced her concerns.

"If the Jedi are busy fighting on the front lines then trying to move a bunch of junk in the open would be suicidal." She pointed out. Suddenly, a nearby gunship fired missiles right above the fuel cells of a Hardcell-class cargo transport, destroying all of the droids and ordinance inside. Naruto turned his attention back to Siri.

"I know it's tempting to have us be the frontline and deflect incoming blaster fire to protect the troopers, but we should actually be the rear line while the troopers are advancing. If we position our cover properly, we won't need to be out front unless the droids are right in our faces. Losses may be higher during the advance, but overall we should lose fewer troops." Naruto reassured. Master Mundi took note of Naruto's tactic and decided to chime in.

"You do not think we will catch Dooku, do you?" He said warily. Naruto's plan was prioritizing the survival of the Clones. As if he was preparing for a long war. Naruto nodded solemnly.

"A lot more Jedi survived than I thought would... Master Yoda could only bring twenty-one Clone legions. I had intended for each surviving Jedi to command their own Legion, but it seems most of us will have to triple up." Master Windu contemplated the situation and began assigning Clone Legions to sets of Knights and Masters. Those with Padawans would have four in their group.

"Our task is to penetrate the Droid lines and clear the way for the rest of our forces. The heavy artillery needs to have a clear shot to bring down those Core ships." Windu stated as Naruto nodded. Casualties would no doubt still be high considering they would be periodically fighting in the open. The gunship suddenly veered to the right, and the Jedi finally got a clear view of the Separatist army. Naruto and Mundi both widened their eyes in shock. Siri's jaw had dropped all the way to the floor.

"That's a _**lot**_ of Droids..." Siri commented flatly as Naruto hummed in thought.

"I don't think they started making this army recently. These numbers... it has to have been in the making for at least a year, maybe two." Naruto reasoned. The fact that so many core ships were in one region meant that the Droid army was massive. Over a hundred million at least. Yoda had only brought about two hundred thousand clones to back up what was maybe ninety Jedi left from the arena. The odds were heavily against their favor.

With that thought, another gunship explosion rocked the air. Three more Jedi had perished. Frustration again began to well up within Naruto, but Windu's shout snapped him out of it.

"Pilot, land in that assembly area!" Windu ordered the pilot, who complied and slowly brought the gunship down by the staging area. Windu, Mundi, Naruto, and Siri all jumped out of the gunship to meet with their before it took off once more with Yoda on board, heading to the Forward Command Center. Once on the ground, Windu quickly met up with the 187th Legion, his personal regiment of Clones.

"Naruto, Siri, you two are tasked with leading the 497th Legion. You were supposed to be grouped with Master Kenobi and his Padawan, but they're nowhere to be found. I'm sure you can make do with just yourselves." Mundi relayed Master Windu's orders before heading off to find his own 21st Legion. Naruto and Siri nodded before they turned to face the frontlines. Waves of Clone Troopers and armored walkers were trying to push up, but it was slow and bloody work.

"There!" Naruto pointed, spotting the legion they were assigned. Siri nodded as the two began to make their way to the 497th legion, who were already engaged with the enemy. One of the Troopers was leading the way for the rest of his brothers, His yellow striped armor marked him as a high-ranking Commander. Proving himself to be an excellent warrior he didn't even flinch at the incoming fire. However, he was thrown back as blaster fire hit his right shoulder. Thankful, his armor kept the damage superficial, but as he got up to fire back, a hail of blaster fire was opened on him. The trooper steeled himself, was this the end for him? He was anticipating death, but it never came.

"You alright?" He heard a voice, it was masculine in nature. Opening his eyes, he saw them, two Jedi, defending him from the incoming fire.

"W-What?" The Clone responded as Naruto turned to him.

"Are you _okay_?" Naruto questioned again, more slowly this time, as the Clone dumbly nodded. He had already been informed of the two Jedi Generals coming to lead his Legion. People with the ability to use the Force, though he never thought he would meet them this soon.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine." The Clone answered as Naruto nodded before he deflected some blaster fire.

"Siri, take over for a moment." Naruto ordered as she nodded. Naruto then turned to the Clone and offered him a hand.

"What's your name?" Naruto questioned as he lifted the Clone back onto his feet. The Clone grunted in slight pain, his shoulder a bit numb from being hit.

"My designation is CC-4010, sir. I'm Marshal Commander for the 497th." The Clone saluted as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Is that your name?" Naruto questioned as the Clone looked at him, confused. A name? The Kaminoans didn't give him a name, none of the others were given a name. They were simply given a designation number from the batch they were produced from.

"Eh, no?" The Clone responded as Naruto frowned. He wasn't going to go around calling everyone other Clone by their designation number, no, that would drive him insane. He hummed, thinking of a name for the trooper before it hit him.

"You're gonna be now known as Fox, understood?" Naruto questioned as CC-4010 blinked at that.

 **"Oi! Are you doing this to just spit at me!?"** Kurama roared inside of Naruto's mind. Naruto rolled his eyes at that.

 _"No. I just shortened his designation by turning the numbers into letters."_ Naruto answered with a grin as the Kurama grumbled. It Naruto's defense it was _partially_ true. Naruto turned his attention back to his Commander, who looked like he was having an inner dilemma.

"You don't like it?" Naruto questioned, wondering if the Clone hated being referred by a name. The Clone shook his head.

"No sir, it's just that we were never really given names. It's pretty weird for someone to refer to us by names." The Clone Commander, now named Fox, answered as Naruto nodded. These were Clones, created from the DNA of someone else. Their creators most likely didn't care about giving them an identity. All the cared about was creating soldiers.

"Well, get used to it. You're a living being, not some Droid." Naruto stated as the Clone's eyes widened at that. He was referred to as a living being by someone for the first time. To their creators, they were just a business deal, something meant to be sold.

"Right…" Fox answered, gaining a sense of personal identity. Naruto nodded as he turned to face the frontlines.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki and that's Siri Tachi over there. We're now in charge of your legion, I guess. Our task was to make a path for the heavy artillery to take down these Core Ships. However, I am taking the liberty of altering that task." Naruto started as Siri turned around and Fox raised an eyebrow.

"And that is?" Siri questioned, wondering just what his plan was. Naruto smirked as he pointed at one of the core ships.

"We are going to push all the way to that core ship and bring it down ourselves." Naruto answered as Siri and Fox looked at the massive Core ship in the distance.

"I'm in." Siri answered with a smirk of her own as Fox looked at them as if they were crazy before he chuckled.

"Aw, yeah, let's blow those buckets of bolts straight to hell!" Fox's enthusiastic answer surprised Naruto, who smiled back at him. Turning around, he walked next to Siri. Activating his saber once more, he raised it up.

"Advance to the front!" He shouted as he began to charge forward, Siri right next to him as Fox along with the rest of the legion followed the two as they made a path for the legion. Naruto deflected the incoming fire as Siri jumped over an incoming missile as it blew behind her.

"Careful, Siri." Naruto advised as she huffed, deflecting some blaster fire.

"Like you're one to talk. When have _**you**_ ever been _**careful**_ about _**anything**_?" She stated as she saw Naruto use the Force and threw back several incoming missiles back at the Droids. While the two were pushing forward, the Clones behind them were providing support. Naruto frowned as he looked back for a minute. Despite the Jedi's leading the charge, the Clones were suffering high casualties due to the open condition of the battlefield.

"This open field is killing us." Siri said as Naruto nodded.

"But the Droid's numbers are working against them a bit. They're clustered and hitting them with heavy weapons is easy, while the ones in the back can't get clear shots at us. But that won't last for long. We can't win a war of attrition and they're moving into better positions. We need to do something, and fast." Naruto reasoned as Siri hummed, thinking what she could do.

"I don't think there is anything we can do other then push forward." Siri responded as Naruto gritted her teeth. She kept pushing forward until a static Droid position was in her sight. It was a large rocky spire formation with half a dozen bunkers built into it. It was acting like one hell of a strong point for the droid army.

"If we can take those bunkers, then we can establish a forward base." Siri pointed out as Naruto nodded. It was pretty far ahead of the front but would make a perfect place to rally the troops and carry out attacks. Naruto signaled Fox to move up as their new Clone Commander did so.

"Yes, General?" The Clone questioned as Naruto pointed to Droid stronghold. Seeing where Naruto was pointing Fox quickly understood what Naruto meant.

"We are going to assault those bunkers. Make sure the others know." Naruto ordered Fox, who nodded and brought his right hand up to his helmet and started to issue the orders. As of now, Naruto had to ask Fox to give out the orders as he didn't have communication piece to issue them out himself.

"All set sir, we've even got deployed our heavy ordinance. Two AT-TEs are backing us." Fox reported, pointing to the large walkers that was steadily pushing up right behind them. Nodding, Naruto turned to Siri.

"Ready?" He questioned as she nodded. The two quickly charged forward, the Force enhancing their sprint to superhuman levels. The Clones were left behind in the dust to catch up. Fox sighed at that before he shook his head and followed after as his brothers caught up to him.

"Are those two Jedi crazy?!" One of the Clones, a Captain according to his red stripes, questioned as Fox nodded as he aimed his rifle at the Droid lines, which was getting closer by the second. Fox looked at the other legions and realized that they had pushed far further than any other. It was at this point he realized that securing the stronghold was necessary or else they would be cut off from the rest of the army permanently unless they retreated. And from what he could tell about Naruto Uzumaki, he didn't like to retreat.

"Double time! We have to secure that stronghold. 6th company, cover the flank!" Fox ordered with urgency as he started to run towards the stronghold, his brothers following him.

 _"Had they realized it that quickly?"_ Fox thought as he provided covering fire for his brothers. Did Naruto and Siri realize the situation they were in? Was General Uzumaki really thinking that far ahead? If so, then they were definitely better tacticians than him. He had much to learn despite the fact that he was a clone bred for war.

 **With Naruto and Siri**

Naruto and Siri were rapidly approaching the stronghold as they zig zagged towards it, repeatedly crossing each other's paths to confuse the droids. The stronghold at this point had changed targets and began to focus fire on the two approaching Jedi.

"Siri, get ready!" Naruto shouted as he got down on one knee as Siri gained speed. Stepping on his hands, Naruto boosted her up as she used the Force to jump high in the air. Spinning in the air, Siri readied herself. Looking at the stronghold below, she used the Force to bombard the rocky formation, tearing through rocky leaving an opening for her to enter through. Landing, she looked up to see a bunch of Battle Droids.

"Hey! You're not authorized to be here." One of the Battle Droids stated as Siri grinned, activating her saber and quickly leaped forward, cutting down the first two Droids closest to her. She spun around, dodging enemy fire and sent a powerful Force push in every direction, throwing the Droids by the heavy blasters out of the bunkers opening. Spinning her saber around, she deflected a barrage of incoming fire, destroying the Droids that fired upon her. She then heard the sound of something metallic rolling. Turning around, she spotted a few Droidekas rounding the corner. Thinking quickly, she pulled the rolling Droids towards her with the force before she cut them in half.

"That should be all." She muttered as she ran towards the blast door that kept the bunker sealed tight. Opening it, she saw Naruto standing there with Fox and a few Clones.

"What took you so long?" Naruto questioned sarcastically as he entered the bunker. The 2nd Company Clones were right behind him and got to work moving down the bunker to secure it. Siri simply rolled her eyes. Fox ordered a handful of troopers to guard the entrance before catching up to where Naruto was.

"Take those heavy blasters and reposition them to face the Droid lines." Naruto had cut through the rock and steel in order to open a firing position on the other side of the bunker, the 2nd Company Clones quickly got to work and before long, had begun firing at the droid army, cutting down hundreds of B1s and B2s.

Naruto's eyes wandered out the freshly manmade window and the actions of the rest of his Legion caught his eye. The 7th company was taking the lead on the second bunker. The Captain and his men had strangely decided to close the distance had taken the fight into close quarters, bashing the droids to pieces with his DC-15 rifle. They had perhaps gotten too carried away, because the 9th company had to bail them out of a sticky situation.

The 6th Company was the complete opposite, taking the third bunker with a mix of tactics and meticulously constructed combat. It was at this time that the droids had finally realized what was going on and had started to defend the rest of their bunker positions. But that didn't stop the 497th.

Naruto couldn't look away from the battle, entranced by the individuality of the 497th's Captains, despite them supposedly being "Clones" of one another. He especially took note of the 1st and 5th Companies combined assault on the fourth bunker. The 1st Company had one hell of a Captain. Smart, skilled, and inspiring. He probably would be commanding his own Legion at some point during the war. The 5th company, despite being the Field Trauma Company, were giving them and an equal amount of hell. Their strength for a company composed mostly of combat medics had surprised Naruto.

The 3rd Company's tactics were exemplary. It took Naruto quite some time to figure out their ingenuity. Whoever their Captain was, he was one hell of a whiz kid. They managed to take the fifth bunker all on their own with their superior tactics. By the time Naruto had turned to check on the 4th company's assault on the final bunker, he realized that they had already sprinted the extra fifty meters and taken the bunker before any of the other teams aside from his own. They were fast. _**Really**_ fast. Their speed had completely blown Naruto away. Through the window, Naruto saw their Captain using two DC-15A blaster rifles on rapid fire and he was managing the recoil with ease.

"Sir, there's some heavy artillery here." Fox reported. Naruto was snapped out of his entrancement by the sound of whirring gears and gadgets. Sure enough, the floor had opened up revealing a heavy anti-air cannon rising. The top hatch of the bunker folded out to make room for the ascending artillery.

"Good. Have some of our men man the artillery and knock out those Geonosians missile tanks. They're a death sentence for our walkers." Naruto ordered as Fox nodded and designated some of his brothers to do so. Naruto then turned his attention to the holomap that showed all Droid positions. Looking down at it, he hummed, wondering what to do next.

"The Droid army's main battle lines are a mile and change from here. We can either let the Droids lines move forward and stop them here or we push forward towards their line. But the next bit of cover is pretty far, so we might get caught out." Naruto said as Siri pointed to the Core ships.

"What about those Core ships? We still need take them down. If we wait too long they might take off." Siri stated as Naruto hummed. Fox looked at the two before he looked towards the map. He got an idea.

"Sir, if I may." Fox started, gaining Naruto's attention, who gestured for him to go on. Fox pressed a few buttons and brought on a hologram of a gunships.

"We could use a gunship to land on that Core ship; destroy it from within." Fox suggested, knowing the risk the plan carried. Naruto thought on the plan put forth. It was one-part crazy, two parts mad, and three parts absolutely insane. But with the lines being pushed up this far - and the 497th having just taking the Droids primary anti-air position - it just might work. Plus, it was pretty badass. And you always have to give credit for style points.

"I like you, Fox. You might be just insane enough to actually be a genius. Get us some gunships." Naruto responded as Fox nodded with a cheshire grin under his helmet and radioed on his communicator to requisition some gunships. The bunker rumbled as enemy artillery tried to pound away at it, but it was holding strong.

"Droid battalion closing fast! 1st company, get into positions!" One of the Captains shouted as the Droid line was approaching closer and closer and with that the bunker was now within their range.

"Open fire!" The same Clone shouted as the gunners started to open fire, firing at the incoming Droids. Due to the fact that they were in bunkers, casualties were minimal. The two AT-TEs circled around the bunkers to get a clear line of sight before opening fire. This gave Naruto a chance to get a good look at the 8th Company, their heavy weapons group, in action. Their Captain was inexperienced and didn't have a great grasp of combat other than "blow shit up", but the 8th did their job well and the Captain was respected enough by his men.

The whirr of eight gunships came down from above. They landed right behind the bunker and Naruto took note of the 4th and 7th Companies piling into the gunships. While the other eight companies in the 497th Legion had finally caught up and set up defensive positions outside the bunkers. The 10th company was quickly starting to fortify their positions, quickly digging trenches, and creating small barricades around the bunkers, creating cover to hid behind. Their captain was rapidly directing them, quickly pointing to critical positions on the battlefield that were exposed to breakthrough attacks.

"The gunships are here, Naruto!" Siri yelled, rushing towards them. But Naruto hesitated to leave behind the rest of his Legion. Fox had quickly taken notice of his hesitance and immediately did his best to offer some reassurance.

"Sir, I know you're worried, but I'm leaving CT-8149 in charge." He said, gesturing to the Captain leading the 1st company. "He's a solid trooper. He can hold his own out here. We have a job to do." Fox's words hadn't dismissed the doubts in Naruto's mind, but they had brought him back to reality. He _**had**_ to leave them behind. There was a bigger picture to consider. Naruto boarded the gunship with haste, leaving behind the rest of the legion to hold their position. The gunships quickly lifted off and headed towards the Core ship.

As the gunship gained altitude, Naruto and Siri's eyes scanned the battlefield. Naruto saw a purple lightsaber leading the Republic's front line. Master Windu's Legion had already taken down two Core Ships and was hammering a third with their SPHAs. Yoda's and Plo Koon's groups had also destroyed two each. If was was seeing right, Masters Mundi and Fisto had also each taken out own. Even Master Luminara and her Padawan had done the same. If all went well, Naruto would also be taking one down soon enough.

The Separatist army was being routed on all fronts. All of the Republic's forward positions were advancing. Naruto saw dozens of Techno Union Hardcell-class transports wrecked on the battlefield. The Diamond-class cruisers had so far been untouched, but it wouldn't be long before the army reached them.

"Naruto, look!" Siri pointed to a speeder bike with two Geonosian fighters as escorts. Naruto squinted his eyes and spotted Dooku. He was going to order the pilot to change course, but he spotted two gunships pursuing the Separatist mastermind, one of them with Obi-wan and Anakin on-board.

 _"Dooku is no joke, but Obi-wan seems to think he can manage it. He's older and wiser than me and is every bit my equal. I trust in his judgement. Anakin is also solid back up. He's pretty good... for a Padawan, at least."_ Naruto thought to himself. He was still wary letting only two Jedi to deal with the Count, so he asked the pilot to hail Master Yoda. He would know what to do.

"Master Naruto, read me, you can?" a voice came through the communication systems. It was definitely Master Yoda.

"Master Yoda, I've spotted Anakin and Obi-wan pursuing Dooku, but I can't pursue. Please advise." Naruto spoke up over the intercom. Siri puffed up in rage when she heard Naruto's words. She would have ripped his head off there and then if he was speaking to anyone besides Grand Master Yoda. Obi-wan was her friend too and she wasn't about to let him face Dooku alone.

"Transmit their coordinates, to me, you should. Aid, I will send." Yoda gave his orders before the transmission was ended. The pilot was already at work transmitting the coordinates of Obi-wan's gunship.

"You're going to pay for that when this is over, you know." Siri harshly jabbed Naruto's side with her elbow. Naruto winced in half-fake, half-real pain.

"They're going to be fine, Siri. Master Yoda's sending help, didn't you hear? Or are you getting deaf in your old age?" Naruto received a loud slap across the face for his comment. He let out a chuckle as Siri put her red glove back on. Fox thought he heard her mutter a curse under her breath, but he didn't quite catch it.

 **With Naruto, Siri, and Fox**

As Naruto had predicted, Separatist anti-air in the area was non-existent. They had fielded no starfighters and what emplacement they had had already been destroyed or captured by the encroaching Clone Army. The path to the Core ship was a clear one.

"How are we going to get in? Our lightsabers can't cut through something that thick." Siri questioned Naruto, who merely blinked in response.

"Uh…we punch a hole?" Naruto responded as Siri buried her face into her palm and Fox started to rethink his opinion of General Uzumaki.

"We can use the gunships missiles to create a superficial opening near the lower section of the bridge deck. From there, your weapons should be able to make it through." Fox suggested a new plan as Siri nodded. A concentrated barrage of missiles from these gunships should create an opening. As the gunships approached closer, they readied their missiles before firing them all near the bridge, breaking through the armor, creating an opening. One by one the gunships unloaded the Clones, along with Naruto and Siri.

"Alright, listen up. This Core ship controls its portion of Droids on the battlefield as well as those within this ship. We need to make our way to the control bridge and secure it before they realize we're here. Understand?" Naruto ordered as Siri, Fox and the Clones nodded.

"Seems like you know your way around this thing pretty well. You've done this before." Fox commented as Naruto chuckled.

"Yeah, something _like_ this. Not sure of the locus for the bridge controls, but I know where we need to go." Naruto answered. He hadn't taken out an entire Core ship, but he had been inside one of the Lucrehulks that carried these things into hyperspace.

"Look at you, using such fancy words like locus. And here I was thinking your vocabulary was limited." Siri jabbed. "And if I recall right, you almost died on that mission" she added, remembering the fiasco on Naboo.

"We should really get going to the _**locus**_ of the bridge." Naruto jabbed back, not wanting her to continue that story. They began to head down the hallways, which were quite empty, until they rounded the corner. The corridor ahead was filled with an entire battalion of droids.

"That's a _**lot**_ of Droids." Siri commented flatly. Naruto was about to call her out on the déjà vu, but the Super Battle Droids leveling their blasters kept him from running his mouth. The oncoming barrage of blaster fire forced Naruto and Siri to quickly activate their sabers and get to work deflecting them. Naruto grunted as the number of Droids down the passage was getting out of hand.

"Siri, take a squad and find a different route. We're not getting through this way anytime soon." Naruto ordered as Siri frowned before she nodded, understanding that there were too many Droids for them to push through quickly.

"Alright. I'll see you on the other side." Siri responded as she took a platoon of Clones through a side hallway.

"Ideas, sir?" Fox questioned as he fired his blaster at the Droids, getting clean hits as Naruto defended the Clones from the incoming fire. Naruto frowned as they slowly push forward, cutting down a few Droids in the process.

"Watch those wrist rockets!" A Clone shouted as a Super Battle Droid fired a rocket. The rocket flew over the group and exploded behind them, throwing them forward as Naruto held his ground.

"Dammit!" Naruto grit through his teeth. The missile had caused some hot shrapnel lodge itself in his back, somehow still fighting through the pain. The Clones quickly stood up, shaking away the slight pain in their heads as they once again resumed firing upon the Droids.

"Sir, we need to fall back." Fox advised.

"No, we have to push through, otherwise those droids will turn around and go right after Siri." Naruto stated as Fox shook his head.

"Sir, you are wounded. We need to at least get you out of here." Fox advised once more as Naruto frowned. Kurama has been holding back on his regenerative abilities for quite a while.

 _"Damn fox! You'd better get to work unless you want us both to die."_ Naruto shouted in his mind, only to get a low huff in return. He wasn't going to go to him for power. He was strong enough on his own! With a roar, Naruto charged forward at great speeds into the group of Droids, cutting through them.

"Go! Go!" Fox ordered as he and his brothers charged forward, covering their commander as Naruto cut through Droid after Droid. The slow advance towards the other side of the hall had become a rapid push as Naruto used brute strength and his stamina to push through. Even then there were so many Droids. This eventually forced Naruto and the Clones to take cover as they were starting to become overwhelmed by the number of Droids. The group of Clones were also taking loses as evident by the bodies of dead Clones. Seeing this, one of the Clones clutched his blaster rifle.

"You goddamn heaps of scrap…" The Clone muttered as he grabbed a thermal detonator and vaulted from his cover, throwing the grenade into the group of Droids before opening fire with his DC-15 on full auto.

"Take this, ya bunch of bastards!" The Captain's shout was somehow heard over the explosion as charged into melee range of the Droids, smashing plenty of them with the butt of his rifle. His brothers in the 7th company followed his example and charged in after him. Naruto meanwhile was impressed by the 7th Captain's continued bravery in storming the enemy lines. Then, it suddenly hit him.

"Storm…" Naruto muttered to him as Fox raised an eyebrow.

"Sir?" He questioned as Naruto pointed at the Clone who led the charge.

"That trooper's name. It's Storm. I couldn't think of anything better" Naruto stated as Fox blinked at that as he looked at the now named Storm, who was bludgeoning Droids with his rifle like it was a sport. If his memory serves him well, CT-2607 was considered a troublemaker during his training on Kamino. The Clone's tactics were considered suicidal but somehow worked most of the time. His recklessness also reflected on his actions as he put himself in the line of fire without orders. It still baffled him that he had managed to become a Captain in charge of the 7th Company.

"Guess that fits him." Fox reasoned. 2607 and his brothers always did prefer storming the enemy lines like that. With a nod, Naruto, and Fox too vaulted from their cover, joining the rest in the fight.

 **With Siri**

Siri was having better luck then Naruto and his group was. They had encountered only light resistance, allowing them to push through. Suddenly, the ship rocked as it's restraints released, and the engines roared. Siri looked out a nearby plasteel window only to see the ground shrinking beneath them. The core ship was taking off.

"Move it!" Siri ordered as she cut through some Droids with haste, the Clones following close by, blasting away at the Droids. Reaching the turbo lift, they quickly went up, towards the floor on which the bridge was located it.

"Think we'll find the commander in there?" One of the Clones questioned Siri as she hummed.

"If he was able to push through then yes, we will." Siri answered, thought she hoped that he would be there first. As the door opened, she and the Clones filed out, heading towards the bridge, which was wide open. They blasted the security droids, as well as some of the technical droids.

"W-What is the meaning of this!" The ship's Captain yelled, the Neimoidian clearly not happy with being held at gunpoint. While the rest of the bridge crew attempted to react, they were quickly dispatched thanks to the Clones.

"Where are you?" Siri whispered to herself, her concern readily apparent due to her tapping foot. However, her concerns were put to rest not long after as one of the doors outside of the bridge was violently blown open, causing Siri and the Clones to turn their attention towards the entrance to the bridge.

"T-That was fun." She heard Naruto' voice and sighed as she spotted him. He looked like he had been through quite the fight and was using Fox as support to walk, given the state he was in. He looked out of breath too.

"What happened to you?" Siri questioned as Naruto took in some oxygen.

"The turbo lift was out of 'service', so we took the stairs." Naruto answered as he walked into the bridge all the while Siri frowned. She could see that he was clearly injured, given the fact that his whole back was bleeding.

"You need to stop being so reckless, Naruto." Siri stated as she and the Clone Medic began to treat his wounds. Naruto rolled his eyes before forcing them shut in pain as the shrapnel was pulled out of his back.

"Could you be a little nicer?" Naruto requested, only to wince in pain again as Siri huffed and pulled the last bit of shrapnel out of his back.

"No. If I keep babying you, you won't learn to be more careful." Siri sighed.

"When have I ever been careful about anything?" Siri was about to call him out on the déjà vu but was interrupted by the Clones chuckling at the scene. Naruto turned away in embarrassment and Siri couldn't help but grin at yet another win. The Medic had patched Naruto up enough, who got back to the task at hand.

"Ok, let's see." Naruto thought out loud as he studied the command console and began to press a few buttons. He was trying to deactivate the Droids that this Core ship had control off, but then a better thought came into his mind and he began to chuckle.

"Uh, is everything all right, sir?" Fox questioned as Siri shook her head.

"Leave him. Knowing him, he's up to something." She told Fox, who only raised an eyebrow. What did that even mean?

 **On the Battlefield**

The remainder of the 497th legion was holding out strong against all odds. After their commanders had departed to take down the Core ship, the Droids began to advance faster and they happened to be the closest to frontlines. Not only that, but they had been cut off from the rest of the army. This happened due to the Republic's entire frontline advance had been pushed west, _**away**_ from the 497th in the Eastern bunkers. This meant the droids were now split between the entire Republic army, and the 497th legion. Cut off from the main force and facing overwhelming odds, CT-8149 had to think quickly. The Droids began to besiege the stronghold as the AT-TEs still provided infantry support despite taking heavy damage.

"I'm out of ammo." One of the Clones said as he ducked behind cover. They were running out of supplies and they couldn't get any supplies due to be cut off.

"I'll almost out too." His brother responded as they kept on fighting the fast approaching the Droids. However, a portion of the Droid army ceased their advance and just stood there, leaving the Clones confused.

"What the?" 8149 questioned as they watched the Droids just standing there. That is, before the B1s all turned around, aiming for own fellow Droids, leaving the Clones even more confused and giving the rest of the Clone army the chance to move up further to relieve the trapped legion. Taking advantage of the situation, the Clone army went on a full offensive, driving back the Droids and clearing a path for the heavy artillery.

 **With Naruto**

Naruto chuckled with excitement as he watched the Droids turn on each other, allowing the Clone army the opening they needed.

"I don't believe it…" Fox muttered as he looked down at the battlefield below. Naruto had turned the tide of the battle! As the Clone's watched the battle below, Siri walked up to Naruto.

"Sir, how did you direct the Droids to attack each other?" Fox questioned as he followed Naruto to the hanger.

"Even though they altered the B1s to have their own independent though processors, they still have a uniform shutdown signal that can be broadcast from a Core ship. Using that, I remotely shut down only the Droid's targeting programming. They're shooting at everything blind, and their droid friendlies are the closest thing in their targeting scanners. And the best part is the Separatist commanders can't do anything about it because their shutdown signal is different." Naruto answered with a grin as Fox thought over the response. Naruto wasn't just a Jedi, but also well versed in technology and with blasters if the one he had with him said anything.

"That was a great plan. Now we've got to land this thing" She commented as Naruto grinned and give her a thanks.

"Actually, sir, if I may, I think I've got a better one." Fox chimed as Siri raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" She stated incredulously as Naruto sweeped his arm in a 'be my guest' gesture. Fox walked towards the navigation computer and started type away, setting a new course for the Core ship. Once done, he backed away from the navigation computer and looked to the rest as the ship suddenly shifted its upward ascent to an angular one.

"Alright, it's time to find us a ship out of here... and fast." Fox stated as the group quickly exited the bridge. However, before they left, Siri made sure to seal the bridge blast doors so that the Droids couldn't change the course that the vessel was set on. Making their way down to the hanger was easy, considering that the Droids within the ship were now fighting each other.

"This way!" Siri shouted, turning left as the hanger came in their sight and it was chaos. Droids were fighting Droids causing the whole hanger to be littered with destroyed droids, starfighters, tanks, and other debris. The group came to a halt as they scanned the hanger for a shuttle or a transport.

"There's one!" Siri pointed towards an intact shuttle, all the way across the hanger. The group quickly began to run towards the shuttle as the battle within the hanger raged on. The chaos within the hanger forced Naruto and Siri to use their saber to deflect the crossfire, while the Clones followed close by, firing at the nearby Droids.

"Argh!" Fox shouted as he was hit by the crossfire, causing him to fall onto the floor as the group pushed forward. However, Naruto turned to find Fox on the ground, wounded from the stray shot. He quickly turned and ran up to the downed Fox.

" _ **Medic!**_ " Naruto yelled, only for him to look up and notice the medic had just fallen in battle. "You alright?" Naruto questioned as Fox grunted. Naruto looked at Fox's back to find multiple blaster shots shadows on the white armor.

"G-Go on sir, I'll only slow you down." Fox responded, telling Naruto to go on without him. Naruto shook his head, he wasn't going to lose another trooper.

"Oh no, you're not playing the hero today. That's my job." Naruto stated as he grabbed Fox and hoisted him over his shoulders and quickly began to catch up to the group despite his own injuries.

"Come on!" Siri shouted as she and a couple of Clones secured the shuttle and waited for Naruto and Fox. Quickly reaching the shuttle, Naruto set the wounded Fox down inside of it.

"Hey, can you treat him?" Naruto questioned as Siri took a quick look at Fox's wounds.

"Yeah, I can patch him up with what I have left, but he's going to need proper treatment." Siri responded as she quickly got to work. Naruto nodded and turned to the cockpit and realized that he need another pilot and Siri was busy. He quickly turned around and looked at the group of Clones.

"Ok, any here have experience piloting something - anything - like this?" Naruto questioned as the Clones looked at one another before one of them stepped forward.

"I do, sir!" The Captain of the 4th Company, CT-6510, responded as he raised his hand. Nodding Naruto pulled the Clone into the cockpit.

"Alright, cause this shuttle needs a co-pilot, so let's get to work." Naruto said as the Clone nodded and took the seat next to Naruto's and the two quickly started up the shuttle. Taking a deep breath, 6510 slowly started to levitate the shuttle.

"Here goes nothing." Naruto said as the shuttle started to gain speed, traveling through the hanger of the core ship. The shuttle rocked as it was hit by a stray shot.

"Dammit!" The 6510 shouted as he pulled hard, preventing the shuttle from crashing into the hanger.

"Keep it together!" Naruto ordered as they guided the damaged shuttle out of the hanger. He smirked, they were out of the hanger, meaning they were in the clear.

"You better hurry!" Siri's voice called out from the back of the shuttle as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Why? We're in the clear." Naruto responded as Siri walked into the cockpit and pointed.

"That's why!" She shouted as Naruto looked outside of the shuttle and his eyes widened. The Core Ship had just crashed into another one. Fox was silently regretting his decision.

"Oh _**shit**_!" Naruto responded as the explosion of the two Core Ships colliding sent shock wave, rocking the shuttle, and knocking it out of course.

"Hold!" Naruto shouted as the pilot tried to hold the shuttle in its course.

"My controls are dead!" Naruto shouted as the shuttle rapidly descended towards the ground. "Siri, take over!" Siri was pushed into the seat by Naruto as she looked at him as if he was crazy.

"What? I'm not even a good pilot!" he shouted as she took over, barely holding the shuttle in its course. Naruto didn't respond as he took in a deep breath as he closed his eyes.

"Anytime now!" Siri shouted, the ground was getting dangerously close. Naruto's eyes shout open as he shot his hands forward, lifting the shuttle into the air with the Force ever so briefly, the angle was much better than the headfirst crash landing. But they still impacted the ground hard, everyone on board learned a lesson in futility as they tried to keep themselves standing. The shuttle skidded across the desert plains before grinding to a halt.

"My head…" Siri held her head as she shook the headache away. Naruto however chuckled at her as he patted away the dust.

"What was it that Obi-Wan always says in situation like these?" Naruto questioned her as she rolled her eyes.

"Another happy landing…" She answered with a groan as Naruto continued to chuckle in pain. "Those were some pretty flashy maneuvers there...Flash." She was addressing the 4th Company Captain. When everyone turned to face her, she scoffed. "What? Naruto got to name one of you. Don't I get a say?" She managed to get out between ragged breaths. Neither Naruto nor "Flash" had any complaints.

"Oh…my back…" Storm moaned out in pain as he stood up. The crash might not have been as bad as it was going to be, but it still hurt like a sonuvabitch.

"At least you weren't blasted by those rust buckets." Fox grunted as he stood up, still feeling the blaster pain ten times over. Naruto shook his head as he walked up to the door and pressing the button. However, it seemed like that the door refused to open, causing Naruto to sigh. Putting his hand on the shuttle door, he sent a blast of Force, throwing the doors out open by force.

"That is quite the sight…" A Clone muttered out as they all looked outside, as the two Core Ship's exploding violently, triggering their decent back to the ground. In a way, it looked quite…beautiful. With two more Core Ships destroyed, the Droid army began a full retreat.

"Look!" shouted, pointing to another Core Ship being brought down by heavy artillery fire from the rest of the 497th. From his initial count of Core Ships, the Separatists had lost more than a quarter of their forces. The battle was over. The Republic had won.

"Seems like we won." Siri said she walked up to Naruto, who could only sigh.

"Yes, but at what cost?" Naruto questioned, pondering on the hundred or so Jedi that had lost their lives. Worse, war had just begun. A war on a scale that hadn't been seen since the Rusann Reformation.

 **Two Hours Later**

"So, Dooku gets away _and_ Skywalker got his arm chopped off?" Naruto questioned Obi-Wan who sighed. After the battle was over, Naruto had returned to the rally point, where all the Jedi had gathered, sans Anakin who was being treated in the field trauma center.

"Dooku is a formidable opponent. He wasn't a Jedi Master without reason." Obi-Wan recalled the events that led up to Anakin losing hand. Anakin's use of Form V was what allowed him to keep pace with the Count, who only managed to defeat Anakin. Naruto frowned at the news. The had won the battle, but the key target had escaped, even most of the Separatist leadership had managed to escape.

"Well, I guess he got too overconfident." Naruto stated as Obi-Wan hummed at Naruto's respond.

"Yes. Anakin thought he could take on the Count alone, but _clearly_ he wasn't ready." Obi-Wan reasoned with a sigh as he sat down, thinking over his Padawan's brashness.

"Well, I hope he recovers soon. We are going to need as many skilled Jedi as possible." Naruto stated as Obi-Wan nodded. Anakin was great...for a Padawan, but the encounter with the Count proved that he was lacking some important qualities. He would have to fix Skywalker's bladework. Naruto sighed as he turned and began to leave, the battle had left him tired and all he wanted to do now was to relax and unwind before being thrown back into the meat grinder.

"You ok?" Naruto heard Siri as she laid a hand on his shoulder, causing him to sigh and let go of his anger.

"I'm fine, just frustrated." Naruto answered as Siri hugged him from behind.

"It's ok, you know? We survived the battle." She said as Naruto smiled slightly. She always knew what to say to lift the mood.

"That we did." Naruto responded with a chuckle as Siri blushed. The sound of his heartbeat and laughter caused her own heart to beat faster.

"Y-Yeah. And we even made some friends." Siri responded as she let go of him as he turned around.

"And we did that too." Naruto responded once again, remembering the Clones he had fought alongside. Chuckling, he began to make his way to a gunship with Siri following close by. Naruto's attitude had changed over the course of the battle.

 _"Seems like he's gonna be ok."_ She thought with a smile. Naruto seemed to be reverting back to his old self.

 **Coruscant, Six Days Later**

A few days had passed since the battle and Chancellor Palpatine had officially made the Declaration of War against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. This declaration meant that the Republic had to rapidly change into a war economy. The Republic had already ordered one thousand additional Acclamator ships from Rothana Heavy Engineer. Kuat Drive Yards, its parent company, had also been commissioned to design and build a new series of powerful carrier ships for use specifically by the Republic. Kuat's main competitor, Rendili StarDrive, had also taken their own bid to develop capital ships.

A military draft had been posted, and the three million Clones that Sifo-Diyas had somehow ordered without anyone's knowledge would be supplemented by thirteen million conscripts and volunteers. The sudden existence of a Clone army had raised some questions, but those were put to rest when they realized that the regular army was much better off with them than without.

Naruto was with a group of Jedi overlooking a large army of Clones that was gathered on Coruscant. The army had been gathered for a show of power and strength and most importantly, to assure the citizens of the Republic that the war would be brought to a swift end.

 _"Swift end they say…"_ Naruto thought to himself as he overlooked the army. There was no way this war was going to end anytime soon. The Republic had far superior troops, but the Confederacy outnumbered them. Two hundred-to-one at least. Naruto turned from the tall window and began to head to the main halls of the temple.

 **High Council Chamber**

The High Council Chamber was unusually empty, with Yoda, Windu, and the newly promoted Obi-wan being the only occupants. The three were talking about the coming days and the war that had just began.

"Do you believe what Count Dooku said about Sidious controlling the Senate? It doesn't feel right." Obi-wan couldn't help by share what Dooku had told him during his time on Geonosis.

"Joined the Dark Side, Dooku has." Yoda dismissed Obi-wan's concerns. "Lies, deceit, creating mistrust, are his ways now." Yoda couldn't help but feel a little betrayed by his former Padawan.

"Nevertheless, I feel we should keep a closer eye on the senate." Windu recommended constant vigilance be their next course of action. Yoda voiced his agreement, but their meeting was interrupted by a surprise guest.

"Ah, Master Yoda, Master Windu, and... congratulations to you, Master Kenobi" the three Jedi Master heard the voice of Sheev Palpatine. Turning around, the saw the Supreme Chancellor with a gaggle of Senators from the Loyalist Committee.

"Chancellor Palpatine. Senators." Master Windu responded as he bowed slightly Obi-wan did the same, thanking the Senator for his congratulations, and Yoda get up from his chair to join the conversation. Palpatine had requested that he meet with them before the deployment began, to which the Council had accepted. Although they didn't expect the Chancellor to come to them. "What can we do for you?"

"If I may have a moment of your time, I have been made aware of a certain Naruto Uzumaki's actions during the battle on Geonosis. And dare I say he raised a fair bit of hell." Palpatine was praising a Jedi he hadn't even met.

"His tactical prowess and leadership skills in the heat of the battle are second to none in the order." Obi-wan said as he walked over and looked down at the Clone army that was assembled outside. Mace merely raised an eyebrow, what was he getting at?

"I don't follow." Windu questioned Palpatine who sighed lightly before turning to Naruto.

"Master Jedi, I am sure you know that that the army will be divided between the twenty oversector armies. I had planned for these to be led by your most esteemed Jedi Masters, but the Republic needs more military-minded leaders like him. As such, I want to ask your permission to appoint him as a Senior Jedi General for one of these sector armies."

"Do you think this is wise?" Windu questioned. Palpatine was about to answer when he realized the question was directed at Master Yoda, who closed his eyes in thought.

"Strong with the Force, young Naruto is. A great commander, no doubt he is. Ready for this level of responsibility, he could be." Yoda answered as Windu nodded. To be honest, he would have fought on Naruto's behalf on taking that position. Naruto was one of the few, if not only Jedi Knights, to have the experience with leading large number of soldiers into battle.

"True, but I don't think it's time for him to be made a Master" Windu turned back to Palpatine. The war had begun, and they needed experienced Jedi. Strong Jedi. Naruto was a good candidate, but he was still too young and too reckless to be granted that rank. Maybe once the war was over he would be ready.

"Heavens no, Master Jedi. I'm not asking you to make him a Master. I would not want to violate your code or traditions. I'm only asking you to make an exception - that Naruto Uzumaki be allowed to lead a sector army. I want to have one assembled - specifically for him and his talents - as soon as possible" the Chancellor elaborated on his request. Yoda hummed, and Mace turned back to him. Obi-wan returned to staring out the window.

"Bring him before us, Chancellor. If Master Naruto believes himself to be ready for such a task, then I am in agreement." The Chancellor's smiled widely at Mace's words as he and his entourage of Senators turned to search for the Jedi in question.

"I have to admit that without Naruto, many more Jedi would have been lost. And without the Clones there would not have been a victory." Obi-wan finally chimed in the conversation. Windu agreed. Naruto was invaluable in the arena. Thanks to his Battle Meditation, sixty-two Jedi returned to Coruscant unscathed, and another two dozen would eventually recover from their injuries.

"Victory? Victory, you say? Master Obi-wan, not victory." Yoda inhaled solemnly before speaking his next words. "The shroud of the Dark side has fallen. Begun, the Clone War has." Obi-wan and Mace shared an anxious glance at one another before turning to view the Clones outside.

 **In the Temple Halls**

Compared to the Council Chambers, the rest of the Jedi Temple was abuzz with activity. With the war starting, the Jedi were quick to be mobilized. Non-essential missions were put on indefinite halt as their priorities had changed. Defending the Republic was at the top of that list. One Naruto Uzumaki was walking about through the hallways, taking in the atmosphere.

"There you are!" Naruto heard as he turned to find Siri standing behind him, a sense of pride around her. Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, something good must have happened.

"You look a little too giddy." Naruto stated as Siri giggled as she walked up to him, puffing her chest in confirmation of his response.

"I was made a Master." She said as Naruto's eyes smiled at her as he ruffled her hair with a grin.

"Will you look at that, little Siri is finally a Jedi Master." Naruto congratulated with laughter as Siri huffed and swatted away his hand.

"I'm eight years older than you, runt!" She shouted with a blush as Naruto only laughed louder, causing Siri to blush even more. She was rather tall for a woman, but she and Naruto both stood two inches shy of six feet tall. Although that didn't stop her from reminding him of his shorter years. Once he had calmed down he gave her a warm smile, which made her blush even more intense.

"I'm proud of you, Siri. You will make a fine Jedi Master." Naruto said warmly as Siri looked away in embarrassment.

"You would make a great one too…" She whispered. Now the she and Obi-wan were promoted, Naruto was probably the best Jedi Knight in the Order. He was so different than the others, powerful and skilled, yet kind and wise. Maybe not the smartest, but the best.

"I am assuming Obi-Wan was also promoted?" Naruto questioned, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Of course." She confirmed Naruto's assumption. Obi-Wan was already one of the Old Guard, the unofficial group of Jedi likely to be appointed to the High Council. It was only a matter of time before he was granted the rank and not much longer before he would be one of the High Council. This war had only hastened his promotion.

"Well, I guess we should grab Obi-wan go out to celebrate while we still can?" Naruto questioned as Siri nodded. Whatever little moments of peace and quiet they could find, they would seize them because the war was not going to give them any.

"Master Uzumaki. If I may have a word with you." a voice drew both their attentions to the Supreme Chancellor. Naruto groaned internally. There was always something to drag him away from time with his sister.

"Go on ahead, Siri. Order a drink for me and I'll catch up when I get there." Siri nodded as Naruto turned back to speak with the Chancellor, who had been joined by his entourage of Senators. "What do you need?" Naruto asked Palpatine, who disregarded the irreverent manner he questioned him in.

"I suppose it is best if we skip the small talk, as I see you're in a hurry to spend time with your loved ones" the Chancellor started. "Quite simply my boy, I think you're due for a promotion." Naruto's eyes lit up.

"You mean...to Jedi _Master_?" This is too soon, Naruto thought. He had only been a Jedi Knight for two years now. Obi-wan and Siri had been Knights for nearly ten. He expected to be at least in his late twenties before a promotion was even considered. Naruto's thoughts were racing with equal parts excitement and confusion. Palpatine took notice of this and waved his hands in a calming motion.

"Slow down, my boy. Although I would like to see that happen, I'm not in a position to grant you the rank of Master. I am, however, in a position to give you a different sort of promotion. A military one." Naruto suddenly understand a bit more but was still confused. Palpatine continued on.

"Master Naruto, your actions on Geonosis were no less than miraculously heroic. You probably saved at least thirty Jedi from certain death in the arena. Each and everyone one of them owes you their lives." That was true. His battle meditation did work enough wonders that even Dooku and his pet bounty hunter had to single him out.

"If that wasn't enough, you and the Clones you commanded destroyed a million or so droids all on your own. You saved no less than three worlds from a potential Separatist invasion. These feats cannot be ignored. Not even by someone like me. So, I think it's time that I repay some of the debt the Republic owes you." Palpatine took a long breath. Naruto's heart was racing in anticipation.

"Naruto Uzumaki, with yours - and the Jedi Council's permission - I would like to appoint you as a Senior Jedi General in the Grand Army of the Republic." Palpatine finally announced. Naruto stood in shock, not noticing the multitude of heads that were turning to stare in light of the proclamation.

A _Senior_ Jedi General? That was a rank that was supposed to be reserved for a select few Masters. Most Masters were going to be assigned more troops to command than a Knight would be, but they were still Jedi Generals. They just commanded an entire Corps instead of a Legion. But a Senior General commanded an entire army.

Palpatine's offer was a tremendous one. And the Council had already approved of his wartime promotion. Naruto's gaze drifted to window, catching sight of the Clone army amassing in the distance in contemplation. As the haze in his head had started to clear and he turned to Palpatine.

"A-are you sure?" Naruto barely stuttered out his question.

"My boy, I'm more than sure of this. The Republic needs military commanders of your caliber. We need to meet with the Jedi Council to approve your appointment, but it's all but been decided. You just have to agree, and you'll be put in charge of the 10th Sector Army." Palpatine give a warm, yet unsettling smile.

Naruto was considering so many things. A Sector army had nearly a hundred and fifty thousand troops in it. Naruto hadn't even commanded a tenth of that number on Geonosis. Was he capable of something like this? It was a huge responsibility. Suddenly, a Senator stepped forth from behind Palpatine and spoke up. Naruto immediately recognized her.

"Master Naruto, you helped save my home planet of Naboo from the Trade Federation invasion. You were stranded on a planet foreign to you, yet you managed to collect a group of dedicated resistance fighters to protect my people from tyranny. It was I who brought your heroic deeds to the Chancellors attention, and it was I who recommended that the Chancellor give you this charge. I have absolute faith in you, Naruto Uzumaki. You're more than capable of this." Padme's words inspired Naruto deeply. She took a step back, giving a short bow of apology to the Chancellor, but she had dismissed the doubts in Naruto's head.

"I have one condition." Naruto finally answered as Palpatine raised his eyebrows before he nodded, inviting Naruto to go on.

"I want the 497th Clone Legion to be part of it." Naruto requested as Palpatine smiled before nodding.

"That can easily be arranged, my boy. You shall be given the details later. For now, let us give the Council your answer and get you to your friends so you can enjoy yourselves. I hope to hear more of you, Naruto. You are a great asset to the Republic." Palpatine commended Naruto, who bowed respectfully before following.

 **"That man is not to be trusted."** The Kyuubi warned Naruto, to which Naruto rolled his eyes.

 _"You're one to talk."_ Naruto shot back as the Kyuubi grumbled before falling silent, letting Naruto be. The blond Jedi knight began to head to the Council chambers before they were kept waiting too long.

 **END OF PART 1**

 **So? How was it? Good? Bad? Leave a like and a review! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter of almost 11k words, I think this has been the largest chapter I have written for a whole story. Anyways, I'll see you all next time! Bye!**


	13. Interlude: Assembling an Army

**Her guys! How are you all doing? Good I hope! So, this is chapter 13, and I did not right this chapter, it was purely written by the Beta writer and it's a dame good chapter. It's short, but it's good, I can tell you that! Also, today is a double feature! Meaning two chapters are being uploaded! That's why it took us this long because we were making two chapters! Just stick around if you want to read the other one! Hats off to Digman14 for writing this chapter! Good job man! Now then, I wise you all enjoy it!**

 **Republic High Command Offices, Coruscant**

Naruto sat in his temporary office holding a caffeinated beverage at the ready. His hands, trembling subtly, rose the drink to his mouth, only to realize that the container was empty. Groaning, Naruto threw the can into the growing pile of another dozen or so energy supplements.

It had been nearly two weeks - twelve days, to be exact - since the start official of the Clone Wars, and things were still extremely chaotic. Hundreds more systems sitting on the fence had seceded from the Republic in support of the Confederacy, no doubt thanks to Dooku's expert political maneuvering. The Separatists' lightning fast raids on supply facilities and manufactories had caught the Chiefs of Staff off-guard.

Mace's assignments on Geonosis went mostly unchanged and unquestioned, but the Kaminoans had cleared another one million Clones for active duty very shortly after the battle. There were many more Legions to form, armies to organize, and commanders and officers to assign. Not to mention the hundreds of warships that needed to be constructed to carry out any real offensive against the Separatists. For now, the existing Clone legions were deployed with the regular army to Republic territories to act as garrison against any possible Separatist incursions.

"So many files…" Naruto muttered as he stared at the two hundred files that filled his datapad. As the General of an entire sector army, it was his responsibility to know just what resources he had at the ready, just who was under his command, and what they were best at.

Sighing, he decided to get this done sooner rather than later. Picking up first file labeled 10th Sector Army. Opening it and scrolling past his name, he was met with the second-in-command of the 10th Army. A man nearing middle age with dark brown hair and eyes to match stared back at him. The title of Admiral displayed prominently over his profile. It was the man that he was going to be working closest with. He was to be in charge of the 10th's Naval compliment.

"Admiral Ross Darahan." Naruto said aloud as he began to read the profile of the Admiral that would be assigned to him. He skimmed over the brief description.

 _Ross Darahan, a former pirate hunter, is well renowned for being a superb tactician, best at small-scale engagements, and extremely well suited for raiding of settlements and outposts. Darahan is a cut above the vast majority of his peers and is more than eager to prove it if challenged or slighted. Admiral Darahan's tactics are efficient and effective, believing that sacrifice is sometimes necessary to achieve victory._

In-other words, the end always justified the means for this self-conscious overachiever who clearly lacks ethics.

"That's gonna be a problem. I can already tell I'm not gonna like this guy." Naruto muttered to himself as he moved on to the next part of the file. He was greeted with an exhaustive list of achievements. Several of the files had photo attachments of the Admiral receiving numerous awards, medals, and plaques. Naruto was surprisingly impressed with his military record. Naruto briefly went over his personal description and did a double take.

 _"He's thirty-five and he's a ranking Admiral_ _ **already**_ _?"_ Naruto was taken aback by this revelation. This guy was no joke. Most didn't reach that rank until they were at least in their fifties. This guy was barely ten years older than him and was already commanding entire Republic armadas. He'd been the bane of pirates across the galaxy for the past decade. Naruto let loose a bewildered sigh. At the very least, his fleets would have a supremely competent commander.

Naruto then took note of a hospitalization record and opened the file. He couldn't help but reel back as he saw the grotesque wound that occupied the right side of the Admiral's face. From the outside of his nose to his ear was a large gaping wound. Naruto steeled his stomach and read on. The wound had healed well, but the Admiral still had visible scarring, even behind the eyepatch he now wore. The date on the file was five years ago. It seemed that Ross was injured in a raid with on a Black Sun pirate outpost. A pirate starfighter charged suicidally into the bridge of his ship. Ross miraculously survived. Naruto read the note left by the medical droid.

 _The patient refuses to acknowledge his disability or accept the reality of his injury. The patient violently bludgeoned the previous medical droid who mentioned the disfigurement._

 _"So he's an arrogant ass that's_ _ **very**_ _good at his job for all the wrong reasons, and is_ _ **very**_ _self conscious about his image. Greeaaaat."_ Naruto thought to himself. He'd had enough. He couldn't do anything about Ross, but if memory served him correctly, he had to choose a handful of Jedi to serve as commanders on the field. Naruto looked at the next file and saw a score of Jedi that had volunteered to serve under his command. Going through the much shorter document, he came across an all too familiar name. Unsurprisingly, Siri had volunteered to be one of his Jedi Generals.

Naruto smiled and immediately dragged her file and assigned her to fill the Jedi General vacancy for the 14th Wide Area Response Corps. She'd been paired with Captain Zels Marck as the commander for her Naval component. Naruto went over his file briefly, and boy if he thought Ross was bad... this guy was the real piece of work. He was a total glory hound with numerous commendations and banquets associated with them to honor his deeds for the Republic. It seemed he was only in it for the fame and money, but at least he was loyal and competent. He'd had several reports of indecency filed against him, but the charges were all privately settled out of the courts.

Naruto chuckled to himself. He was just going to wait for this guy to try something on Siri. He wouldn't even have to be there to get his kicks out of it. He would just wait for Zels to show up with a broken hand one day, and he would know. Were there any decent guys in the Republic Navy? Naruto was beginning to wonder that. He stood up and headed towards his fridge to grab a new supply of energy, but instead opted to open his modest collection of liquor and mixed himself a Flameout, he took a sip and savored the freezing sensation in the back of his throat. Satisfied with the mix, he took it back to his desk to look at the naval commanders for the other corps.

"Vice Admiral Wyle Olander, Captain Jess Strouh, and Captain Wilhuff Tarkin, huh?" Wyle was attached to the 327th Star Corps, which had a focus on naval and starfighter engagements. Made sense that a higher ranking officer would be assigned to a corps with such a focus on naval and starfighter combat. Wyle actually seemed like a decent guy. Late forties, married with three teenage children, a respectable service over the past twenty-five years. Experienced, dedicated, and respected. He was everything that Darahan and Marck weren't. He was also indicated as the successor of the 10th's Navy should something happen to Admiral Darahan. Why couldn't this guy be his lead Admiral from the get go?

Naruto next glanced over this Wilhuff guy's resume. What a career this guy had. Started in the navy before pursuing a career in law enforcement with the Judicial Department, then he decides to become the governor of Eriadu, before finally volunteering to re-enlist with the Republic navy. Who would leave behind a luxurious gubernatorial lifestyle to become a Captain fighting in the largest confrontation. Naruto took a liking to this guy. He was a little ruthless in his tactics during his time with the Outland Regions Security Force, but he was effective. Hopefully he would be more compromising on this than Admiral Darahan.

Last was Jess Strouh, and Naruto's heart immediately started racing. Golden brown hair and a pair of icy blue eyes stared back at him. She was around Siri's age, maybe a bit younger, but she was a total **knockout**. Naruto almost fell in love at first sight, but quickly snapped himself back to reality and continued reading. In comparison to the gruff Navy captain Naruto had expected, he actually found that she had mostly gotten her position based on her highly political family and was quite feminine. She'd been part of the Coruscant Home Defense Fleet for about half a decade and you could count the number of battles she'd been in on just two fingers. She was probably kept safe there as a favor to her father, the current Governor of Corellia, but got mistakenly drafted in the ensuing chaos of the Clone Wars by some overpaid bureaucrat. Naruto wiped a trickle of sweat from his brow.

 _"Must be the Flameout working its magic"_ Naruto dismissed his increased heart rate and opened a new file. He'd met his Navy, now it was time to get to know his army. Thankfully, the 327th Star Corps had survived the Battle of Geonosis mostly unscathed and had already been organized by Master Windu, and the gaps were filled by its leaders, who Naruto took note of.

"CC-5052 'Bly' and Jedi Master Aay-" Naruto froze. "Aayla Secura..." Naruto's train of thought was interrupted by two things. One, he was commanding Aayla Secura, a Jedi he'd had a crush on since his childhood, and two, he was commanding Aayla Secura, a Jedi _**Master**_. Her promotion wasn't what surprised him, but the fact that he, a Knight, would be commanding Masters in battle. How was this going to work out? Obviously, he outranked Aayla - and for that matter, Siri as well - when it came to commanding her Clones, but could he really issue orders to a Jedi Master?

Naruto briefly considered the odd situation of ordering a Master around. Siri would probably listen to him... well, sometimes. But despite the longtime crush, he didn't know Aayla all that well, and he still had to choose two more Jedi Masters to lead the 99th and 108th Corps. He would have to consider his next choices carefully, otherwise the 10th Army might have commanders that didn't respect his orders. Naruto went through a list of choices. He had about a dozen Masters to choose from. Naruto went through the list and immediately knew his first choice - Jedi High Councilor Even Piell.

Piell was a great warrior with legendary courage and bravery. The Council had also chosen him for his wisdom, but despite this, Naruto always found Master Piell to be more of an observer that occasionally offered good advice. That was exactly something he needed. Naruto paired him with Captain Tarkin in the 99th Corps. Tarkin had the administrative and military experience that Piell lacked. The two would make for a good team.

At least Naruto hoped.

For the 108th, Naruto had chosen another High Council member, Master Depa Billaba. He needed someone serious and experienced to counterbalance Captain Strouh's woeful ineptitude and complete lack of practical skills. Billaba was trained as a Padawan by Master Windu, who was the most serious and experienced Jedi he knew aside from Master Yoda.

Naruto had chosen what commanders he could, now he had a plethora of legions to assign to each Corps, and according to the Chancellor's directive, each Corps was to have at least three Jedi Generals and one Clone Marshal to lead the four legions within. Naruto planned to assign the 497th to Siri's 14th Corps. Fox already knew Siri and pairing them together made the most sense.

Naruto thought on the 14th Corps first. As a Wide Area Response unit, it was supposed to be on alert at all times to act as emergency reinforcements to nearby battlefields and hopefully turn the tide. Naruto had to think about what situations allies would be in when he arrived to help. The 497th had performed well on Geonosis breaking deep into enemy lines. So, if the army to be reinforced were surrounded, the 497th had that covered as a deep operations unit. But what if his allies needed search and rescue? He would need to find them first, so a reconnaissance unit would help. He would also need a unit that could provide allies with supplies and, and a unit that could provide simple support in a more conventional manner.

Naruto scanned the list of over two hundred Legions that he had to choose from. It took him nearly two hours, but he finally found his targets. The 73rd Combat Service, the 328th Overwatch, and the 242nd Mobile Reconnaissance legions. The 242nd even had Jedi General Serra Keto attached to it already. Perfect! Naruto looked over at the time and noticed it was getting extremely late. He decided that he would finish with the 14th Corps and then head to bed to finish the rest of the assignments later. He only needed to find one more Jedi Knight and so he opened up the data file of volunteers. Compared to the dozen or so Masters that had volunteered, Naruto had nearly as many names to choose from as there were legions. Naruto struggled to pronounce the Sriluurian words of the first name.

"Que-Mars Redath-Gom? Que-Mars is his first name I hope. That's... _**kinda**_ easy to say." Naruto looked at the Weequay Jedi that had volunteered to serve under him. Naruto thought he had recognized him from the arena on Geonosis. Naruto looked at the next name. 'Bultar Swan' was thankfully much easier to pronounce. Naruto also thought he recognized the name from Geonosis, but he was so tired he didn't bother to think too much about it. He assigned Jedi Generals to the Legions and tapped the screen to finalize the Command structure, only for an error message to appear.

"What do you mean the 497th doesn't have a Commander assigned to it? Stupid datapad. Fox is the leader of the 497th, you moron computer." The sleep-deprived Naruto shouted at the inanimate screen. He scrolled up to the 497th to confirm his statement only to find that Fox wasn't the leader of the 497th. In fact, no one was. Naruto began to sweat a little. He did a quick search of Fox and found his name as an active soldier. Good, at least he wasn't KIA. But Naruto had to look more closely to notice his new assignment; Marshal Commander for the 14th Wide Area Response Corps.

Naruto had forgotten that each Corps was commanded by a Jedi General _**and**_ a Marshal Commander. It seemed that Fox had also gotten a bit of a promotion in light of their accomplishments on Geonosis. Thankfully, Fox had already unknowingly chosen his successor. Fox had selected CT-8149, the Captain for the 1st Company, to lead the Legion during their absence. Naruto promoted 8149, who had received the nickname 'King' from his comrades and had to give him a new designation number. Naruto chose CC-1293, but he never intended to call him anything aside from 'King'.

Naruto filled the remaining vacancies and finished his organization of the first corps. He headed towards the couch and faceplanted into the cushion. His energy spent, Naruto drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

 **That Night, in an Abandoned Factory**

Two figures walked in the shadows of Coruscant's skyline. One was short and took long, sinister strides. The other was tall and walked in a more dignified manner. Both appeared to be quite elderly.

"Are you sure this is wise, master? Naruto was the fulcrum that single-handedly turned the battle to the Jedi's favor. If I hadn't sent the boy to distract him... I doubt the probability, but the threat of defeat was there." Count Dooku - no, Darth Tyrannus - voiced his concerns during the battle in Petranaki arena.

"I am quite certain of my decision, apprentice. Remember that our goal is not a Separatist victory, but a Republic one. Uzumaki will be _**very**_ valuable to the war effort... and very vulnerable when the time comes for the Sith to rise once again. I intend to make _**extensive**_ use of him and his skills. When the time comes, he will perish with the rest of his Jedi friends." Darth Sidious spoke, however, he failed to assuage his apprentice's worries.

"No disrespect, Lord Sidious, but I don't agree. Merely placing the boy on every front line in the war you can send him to isn't a sound strategy. My apprentice was weary of the power within him, even as a Padawan. His resilience is quite remarkable. I don't think you'd be able to tire him out even if you were to somehow send him to a hundred battlefields at once." Dooku suddenly felt a strain in the Force. He had upset Sidious.

"Do not question my decision, Lord Tyrannus. I'm certain that Qui-Gon Jinn's words were mere hyperbole. No one has that much stamina. Not even the greatest of the Sith Lords did. My only concern is that he will hasten the war too much. We must deal with him quickly, before the war is at its end." Dooku saw through right his master. Sidious was seething with rage and a hint of jealousy at Naruto's abilities.

"Why not simply end his life with Order 66. He seems very attached to his Clones, I doubt he could bring himself to kill them." Dooku suggested. Sidious mulled over having the 497th kill him, but ultimately dismissed the idea.

"We cannot invoke Order 66 on a loyal Jedi. It might draw too much suspicion onto the Supreme Chancellor. In the meantime, you must be sure to send your very best Commanders to do battle against Uzumaki. In time he will falter, and then you shall deal the decisive blow against him. Do not fail me, Lord Tyrannus." Sidious finished the conversation as he boarded a transport.

"As you wish, my master." Dooku bowed, trembling with a small amount of fear. It was true that he outclassed Naruto now, but Dooku was certain that Naruto would grow from his prolonged activity in the Clone War, not weaken. When he faced Uzumaki, Dooku would have to give everything he had.

 **Naruto's Office, the Next Morning**

Naruto awoke late in the morning with an unsatisfied groan. Six hours of sleep wasn't enough, and he wished that his alarm was simply going off at the wrong time. He had crashed hard off his energy drinks, but he rose off the sofa all the same. The deadline for his assignments was today at noon. He only had about two hours to finish up.

Naruto finished assignments for the 327th Corps in about ten minutes. Most of the work had already been done by Aayla after Geonosis. She only needed a three Jedi Generals assigned to her Legions. Naruto then moved on to the 108th Elite Corps. As an Elite Corps, their primary job was more strategic combat. To be the flankers, intelligence operatives, and long-distance support. Most importantly, to take out high value targets.

It took him nearly a whole hour, but he managed to take apart and put together a truly exceptional Corps from scratch. The 29th Covert Legion under General Fy-Tor-Ana. He also bartered for the 55th Heavy Weapons Legion from Master Ry-Gaul's 2nd Sector Army and sent in his request to the Kaminoans for the 223rd Full Spectrum Operations Legion. They were fresh out of training but were still a cut above the rest of the new recruits. Jess would need a well-rounded unit to help out in Naval engagements, so the 316th Combined Arms would also give some added security to their naval forces.

Naruto had little time to consider the 99th Assault Corps, but he wasn't about to rush things. They were meant to be a frontline unit, but they would need variation in their tactics. The first Legion Naruto chose was a migrant from the 497th. Former Captain of the 3rd Company, nicknamed "Wiz", had gone on to lead the 68th Tactical Legion which would serve as a foundation, but Naruto needed specialized Legions to carry out Wiz's ingenious strategies.

And that started with the 134th Mechanized Infantry Legion. They were specially trained in the use of various vehicles, namely the TX-130 Saber, the BARC speeder, and the more common AT-RTs and AT-TEs. Naruto also considered battles at sea. There were several aquatic worlds throughout the galaxy, and so the 401st Amphibious Assault Legion was one such Legion specifically trained for those exact engagements. Naruto looked at the clock. He had only four minutes left when he added the 319th Guerilla Legion and finally finished constructing his army. Naruto set the datapad down and headed towards the small shower room. He needed to meet with Palpatine to confirm his selection as well as meet his new commanders.

Today was going to be a long day...

 **So, how was it? Good I hope! It's a prelude chapter, so that's why it's not as long as the rest of them, but even for a prelude chapter it's a dame good one! With that said, I'll be uploading Chapter 14 after this one, bye!**


	14. Battle Over Fondor

**So, here we are, chapter 14! And you know what this means? My first story to reach close to 100K words! And it's only getting started! Lol. At this rate, this story might be well over 300k words, but if that's what it takes to make a good story then so be it! With that said, I wrote this chapter, while my Beta Beta'ed it. So, enjoy and leave a review or two and a like! Don't forget the likes! Lol. Enjoy the chapter!**

 **Six Weeks Later, Fondor Shipyards**

Two months had gone by without any major event between the two factions other than small raids on supply lines and outposts. The widespread deployment of the Clone Army had slowed down the initial Separatist advance. This gave the Republic some time to acquire the much-needed warships in-order to carry out proper campaigns. However, that was about to change.

"More Separatist warships a jumping out of Hyperspace!" A Clone officer shouted out as the ship shook. An hour ago, the Separatists had launched an all-out attack on Fondor in an attempt to destroy the newly built shipyards. Given the current state of the Republic Navy, the handful of Star Destroyers they had were extremely valuable to them.

 _"Where are our reinforcements?"_ The voice of one Master Adi Gallia questioned as she piloted her Delta-7 starfighter against the Droid forces. Being one of the best fighter pilots in the Order, she was quickly able to dodge incoming missiles before destroying some Droid fighters. Her forces only consisted of two Venator-class Star Destroyers, one Acclamator-class assault ship, and a half dozen Arquitens-class cruisers. Not nearly large enough to handle the massive Droid armada, which consisted of a dozen Munificent-class frigates, with two supporting Recusant-class destroyers. Not to mention the countless Droid fighters.

"The Separatist launched an attack on Corellia to pull away nearby fleets. General Uzumaki with the 14th Corps also responded to the attack. He was reported to have left Corellian space almost four hours ago. He's supposed to be here already." The officer replied as Gallia frowned at that, it seemed that the Separatists had launched two attacks, and this one was the real one. Fondor Shipyards was constructing nearly a quarter of the new Star Destroyers. Losing them now would mean the war would be all but over.

 _"We have to hold until Naruto arrives with reinforcements. Do not allow the Separatists to break through."_ She glanced back to the Fleet with her order, but gasped as one of the Acclamators was overwhelmed and started to break apart. She clutched her controls in frustration. The Separatists had completely surrounded the shipyards, and her fleet.

 **Onboard the Separatist Flagship**

"By my calculation, our chances of victory at 97.84%." A Tactical Droid reported to his commander, Wat Tambor, who hummed at that. Wat Tambor wasn't the first man that would come to one's mind when thinking about a general. He was good at creating and supplying war machines, not so much at leading the said war machines. He was mediocre at best, but with such superior numbers he was confident that victory was assured.

"Why 97.84%?" He questioned the T-Droid, who handed him a datapad.

"Our forces at Corellia have reported that a portion of the enemies' fleet left the combat zone several hours ago." The T-Droid replied as Wat Tambor's eyes widened. If Republic reinforcements arrived from Corellia, they would be dropping right behind him.

"You fool! Bring the Fleet around immediately!" He ordered, but the T-Droid only looked at him in confusion.

"The odds of Republic reinforcements arriving in time are –" The T-Droid was cut off as a Battle Droid spoke up.

"Uhm, General, we have Republic capital ships jumping out of Hyperspace behind us." The Battle Droid reported as Wat Tambor frowned at quickly ordered five frigates and a destroyer to turn around and deal with this new threat.

 **With Naruto:**

"Seems like we're a little late. But that might have turned out to be a good thing." Naruto said as he observed the marvelous positioning of the Separatist fleet before him. They were completely unprepared for Republic reinforcements and Naruto had arrived right in their rear flank.

A day ago he was forced to head towards Corellia to defend it against a large scale Separatist attack. However, partway through the battle, he was informed that the Separatists had launched another attack on the Fondor shipyards. Knowing that the garrison would never be able to defeat the numerically superior Separatist fleet, he ordered the 14th Corps to be divided in half. Leaving half at Corellia to deal with the Separatist Fleet, he and Siri sped off towards the Fondor system.

"Siri, Captain Flash, take the fighter squadrons into battle, relieve some of the pressure on our boys around the Shipyard. Keep those bombers away from You're some of our best pilots." He ordered through the comm link as the said Jedi Master and Clone Trooper quickly made their way to the hangar.

"Get Zels on the line!" Naruto barked out the order, wanting the Fleet Captain of the 14th W.A.R. Corps on the double.

 **With Siri**

"All set?" Siri questioned as she ran up to her Delta 7, which was being serviced by the hangar crew.

"She's ready to go." One of the technicians stated as she nodded and quickly boarded her fighter and began the startup process.

 _"So, what's your score?"_ She heard the voice of a Clone, Flash, speak through the comm channel as she chuckled slightly.

"56 Droid Fighters destroyed, yours?" She questioned as the Clone on the other side chuckled as well.

 _"60."_ He answered as Siri scoffed at that.

"Don't get too confident, hotshot." She stated as she slowly started to pull her fighter up, waiting for the signal to take off.

 _"Wouldn't dream of it."_ Flash replied as he too was waiting. The ground crew gave the signal and Siri was the first to leave the hangar, followed by Flash and the rest of the squadrons behind them in V-19 torrent interceptors. As they neared the first Separatist warship, they began to face a hail of fire from it.

 _"Split up. Our first objective is to protect Master Adi Gallia's remaining forces. Focus on those fighters!"_ Siri ordered as she spun her fighter, taking down some Droid Fighters that were heading straight for her.

 _"Copy that."_ Flash responded as he and a few of his Clone brothers went after a group of Droid Fighters chasing after Adi Gallia, who was glad to see her old Padawan Siri. Maneuvering her fighter, she took down a few Vulture droid fighters, while avoiding the ones that were chasing her. However, Flash had alone managed to destroy the plethora of fighters behind her, giving her the breathing space she needed.

 _"We got your back General."_ She heard the Clone say through the comms as she nodded, silently thanking him and the rest. Spotting her former student, she was impressed at how effective of a pilot she had become, destroying multiple enemy fighters and even damaging a Munificent frigate in an attempt to ease the tension on the Garrison forces.

 **With Naruto**

Naruto observed the battle with calm. He had discussed the battle plan with Captain Marck, who was currently onboard the other Venator to his right. Republic Navy was simply not prepared for a large scale Galactic war. Thankfully, the entire Galaxy was somewhat demilitarized, so the Separatist Navy wasn't too far ahead. The Separatists wanted to end the conflict quickly, before the superior Republic Shipyards could outpace the Separatist war machine. Not to mention that a longer war would give the Republic time to produce more clones, something that would greatly decrease the odds of a Separatist victory. The Clone Army had already proven itself vastly superior on land, and having thousands of Jedi on battlefield across the Galaxy certainly didn't help.

Naruto had only been given six Venators to split between his entire Sector Army due to the relatively low numbers of the warship available. He gave one to each Corps, one to himself, and one to the Admiral. The eight Dreadnaught-class cruisers were under Zels command. The only Acclamator in his fleet was being commanded by Jedi General Que-Mars Redath-Gom. This entire fleet was carrying two full Legions. The 497th Deep Operations and the 382nd Overwatch.

As Naruto suspected, he had saved the life of the Weequay Jedi during the first battle of the Clone wars, and Que-Mars signed up to fight under Naruto's command in gratitude. Zels was a capable, if cantankerous and somewhat pompous commander, ordering his vessel to carry out concentrated attacks on one separatist ship at a time. It was working. Zels' ships had destroyed two of the Munificent frigates before they could even turn around.

"One of General Gallia's Venators has lost engine power. It's going down." Marshal Commander Fox commented, pointing at the very badly damaged Venator, which was slowly being pulled into the planet by its gravity. Naruto frowned at that. Losing a Venator was not an option. Not only was it the loss of a valuable warship, but also the crew and the Clone's on board.

"Break formation. Zels, keep at it. Fox, use our tractor beam to prevent it from falling." Naruto ordered as Fox looked at him, unsure of the order.

"Eh, but sir, shouldn't we focus on the battle?" Fox questioned as a Separatist Frigate was blown into two pieces. Naruto smirked and shook his head,

"I'm sure Zels will be alright without us. We must save that Venator. This early in the war, every ship and soldier counts." Naruto responded as Fox nodded. Ships weren't cheap, and neither were Clones. The Republic still had less than half the Clones they had ordered available to them. With the order given, Naruto's Venator, _Fire's Shadow_ , quickly began to focus on the saving the Venator.

 **With the Separatist Fleet**

Wat Tambor tightened his fist in rage as he watched the battle. His forces were doing so well in the beginning, even managing to disable and almost destroy one of the Venators! But, his victory was cut short as Naruto arrived and started to turn the tide.

"We have lost our second Munificent-class Frigate. The odds of a victory are now 68.71%. I advise a change in strategy." The Tactical Droid advised him, but the Separatist Commander simply shoved the tactical droid out of his way as he walked to the front of the observation deck. His goal was to destroy the shipyards and he hadn't even destroyed even a single stardock! He couldn't go back to Dooku and say he failed. He must do something!

"I want our frigates to begin board at the empty stardocks. Land our troops and destroy the main station from inside." Wat Tambor ordered as the Tactical Droid shook its head, stating that sucha move would be foolhardy and that Tambor needed to call a retreat to ensure that most of the Fleet survived. Yet he again refused to accept the situation and ordered the Droids commanders, who were programmed to follow his orders without question, obeyed as the nearest Frigate broke formation, and began to board at one of the docks.

Almost immediately, the Republic forces stopped firing on said frigate, in fears that the resulting explosion could lead to the dockyard also being destroyed. Wat looked pleased, as he ordered his flagship to withdraw to a safer distance, leaving the rest of the Droid Fleet to engage the Republic. The dockyards would be destroyed, even if it meant that throwing away an entire Fleet. It would cost the Republic more than it would them.

 **With Siri**

Siri banked right as a Droid Fighter shot past her before she shot down some incoming Droid fighters.

"Damn, there's gotta be thousands of them!" She commented as a few Droid Fighters began to chase her. The Republic squadrons were outnumbered and scattered throughout the battlefield in small numbers, fighting off the Droids.

 _"Need some help?"_ She heard her former Master's voice through the transmitter as the Droid Fighters behind her were destroyed.

"Thank you, Master Gallia." Siri thanked Gallia, who chuckled in response.

 _"Siri, you're a Jedi Master now. We're equals."_ Gallia responded as Siri smiled before she noticed something. A Frigate had attached itself to one of the docks and was most likely pumping thousands of Droids inside the station. This was not good, but she could do little other than destroy the seemingly endless onslaught of the Droid Fighters.

 _"Come on, Naruto… This is up to you."_ She thought to herself. If anyone could prevent the destruction of the Dockyard at this point, then it was Naruto Uzumaki.

 **With Naruto:**

"Well shit…" Naruto said to himself as he saw the docked Droid Frigate. This was bad, very bad. They could not fire upon that Frigate, but they couldn't just let them rampage across the station. So, a plan needed to be made and he knew only one. Boarding the station and stopping the Droids.

"General Que-Mars." Naruto spoke as he walked up to a large circular table located towards the entry of the bridge, Fox following behind him.

 _"What's the plan?"_ The hologram of Que-Mars appeared as Naruto pressed a few buttons and a hologram of the station and the Droid warship appeared in the center of the table.

"The Droid Fleet is blocking our path to that docked Frigate. Pushing through will take too long. We need to board the station from the opposite side and make our way across the station and repeal the Droid forces." Naruto explained as Que-Mars hummed.

 _"Our gunships will be very exposed, in close range to a horde of Separatist ships."_ Que-Mars stated as Naruto and pressed a button, this time the holograms of Republic fighters appearing.

"General Gallia's fleet, as well as our starfighter corps, will cover the assault, that should provide us with the cover we need." Naruto responded as Que-Mars nodded.

 _"Very well, I'll get some of my troops ready."_ Que-Mars said as the hologram was cut off. Naruto then turned to Fox, who was ready for whatever orders Naruto.

"Get the 497th ready for assault, I'm going to need King on board the station in case we need to split up." Naruto ordered as Fox nodded but was confused with something.

"And me, sir?" Fox questioned as Naruto chuckled.

"I need you here. Make sure the Separatist Fleet does not interfere any further. You're in command, Fox." Naruto replied as Fox understood, someone had to ensure that the chain of command remained intact.

"Understood sir!" Fox replied as he began to send out orders to his comrades, preparing the troops for battle, and the necessary gunships for sortie. On his way to the hangar, Naruto contacted Gallia and Siri for their new objective.

 **In the Hangar**

The hangar was filled with Clone troopers as the gunships were loaded up with the 4th, 10th, 18th, and 21st regiments. The entire 497th was gearing up for battle again.

"I can't wait to beatdown some clankers." CT-2707 better known as Captain 'Storm' of the 10th Regiment voiced his elation as he wiped the thick droid oil from his riot control baton. The leader of the nicknamed 'Disaster' Company, it was a company that comprised of Clones that were all to willing to take the fight up close and personal and dismantle Droids with their bare hands if they had to. Their can-do attitude made them a Company without fear. If there's a mission that needed to be done no matter the cost, then Disaster Company was your unit of choice.

"Bravery and gumption can only get you so far Storm. You need to stay calm on the battlefield, your habit of charging into enemy lines with no tactics whatsoever is going to get you killed. There's a reason we nicknamed your Company 'Disaster'. The coming disaster isn't a matter of if, only when." CT-2606, otherwise known as 'Stoic', was the Captain of the 9th 'Hunter' Company. Stoic ran everything in his Company by the book and was very effective Company at hunting down high value targets.

"Oi, will ya give it a rest? Not all battles can be won with just tactics and strategy." Storm fired back, a frown on his face as Stoic scoffed at that notion, but he knew that Storm was right.

"You both don't know what you're talking about, the heavier blaster will always win the day." An abnormally large Clone trooper said as he walked between to the two arguing Clones. This was the Captain of the 8th Company or 'Gorilla' Company. Appropriately known as 'Bulk', given his larger build due to an error during the Cloning process. He stood more than a foot taller than his brothers, and the augmented strength from the mutation allowed him to carry a plethora heavy weapons. In particular a heavy repeating blaster cannon, a rocket launcher on his back, and .

Next to him silently stood CT-0076 otherwise known as 'Builder', the Captain of the 10th Company known as 'Pioneer'. The 10th company were new faces to the 497th, and were specialized in Engineering field fortifications, building defenses and strongholds and other structures and Builder had just the eye needed for such a Company. He was able to quickly identify points on a battlefield, and was equally quick to fix or take advantage of them. He didn't comment, usual for him, but it lended a bit of a creepy factor to the Captain .

"And they say our Regiment has no class." A Clone Trooper chuckled as he attempted to board a gunship, keyword attempted because he tripped and fell face first onto the floor of the LAAT/i.

"Well…that was embarrassing…" The Clone trooper said as he stood and rubbed his head. CT-9720, otherwise known as Fang, was quite possible the clumsiest Clone Trooper in the Galaxy, and a tremendous goofball at that too. There was more to him then just accidental slapstick comedy. He was the Captain of the 6th 'Shadow' Company, and he excelled in covert ops. He was offered leadership for one of the many Covert Ops legions, but he declined in favor of staying with the 497th.

"How you made Captain is still beyond me." A clone with the familiar red accented armor of a Captain - as well as the special markings of a medic - said as he walked up to the Clone and offered him a hand.

"What can I say, it's genetics." Fang answered with a chuckle as the Clones groaned and scoffed. Some just stared at him with a blank look. That didn't even make any sense! The group of Clones joked as their respective regiments boarded the gunships.

"You're lecturing a medic about genetics? Because I've run tests and there's no way in hell I'm related to you, you klutz." The Clone stated with a blank look on his face. Gamble, the Captain of the 5th 'Rescue' Company was quite the wildcard for a medic. The 5th was strange in that it had been assigned a remarkable number of medical squads. They weren't afraid of fighting Droids, though. They referred to themselves as the toughest combat medics in the Grand Army of the Republic.

"Alright kids, break it up! We've got a job to do." They all stopped and turned to face two Clone Troopers walking up to them. The first one wore the distinctive armor of an Arc Trooper, while the one behind him wore slightly customized Phase 1 Armor.

"Look who the cat dragged in." Storm joked as the Clone behind the Arc Trooper frowned.

"Watch your mouth. That's your superior you're talking to." The Clone snapped back as Strom rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I didn't mean King, I meant you." Storm replied with a chuckle as others chuckled with him while the Clone groaned at their behavior. In addition to being the new Commander for the 497th, he chose to remain as the leader of the 1st Company. The Clone behind him was known as 'Blitz', a Clone who was fiercely loyal to King, and was the Captain of the 2nd Company known as 'Avalanche'.

King and Blitz were pod brothers. Their loyalty to one another was so great that King dropped out of the Clone Commando program halfway through his training just so he could fight alongside Blitz. King was loved and well-respected, but Blitz was too much of a hardass to get along with anybody.

"Alright, you two. That's enough!" King ordered as they all stood at attention. Hearing footsteps behind him, King turned around to see Naruto approaching the gunships. He, along with Blitz, stood at attention, saluting their General.

"No need to be so uptight, Blitz. You should be more like your brothers." Naruto said as the Clones eased up. This would be their first real fight with their General, considering this would be the second ground battle they have fought after the first battle of the war.

"I am sure you all are dying to know what the mission is, correct?" He questioned as they nodded. Smiling, Naruto looked down to his old astromech Droid, R4.

"R4, will ya?" Naruto beckoned the Droid, who beeped before it and projected the hologram of the stardock.

"Here's our mission, board the shipyard, and pacify it of Separatist forces. We'll be boarding from this side, where the Droids have yet to reach." Naruto pointed towards the far end of the station.

"What about the dockyard security forces?" Blitz questioned, plans already form in his head. There were many ways to approach this situation. Boarding the Droid frigate itself, destroying the frigate, or flat out destroying the section of the station infected with the Droids, though destroying the station would be counterproductive.

"Too small, they can't hold out for long." Naruto answered as they all nodded. No way the security forces were going to hold back a frigate full of thousands of Battle Droids.

"Any details, sir?" King questioned. While the plan was simple, they needed more details regarding their orders. Naruto nodded at that, already knowing the plan he had discussed with Que-Mars.

"General Que-Mars and the 382nd Overwatch will also be taking part in this operation. The 4th and 18th Regiments, along with Companys one, five, seven, and twelve through sixteen, will follow Que-Mars towards the main entry point of the Droids. Wipe out the enemy forces and do your best to stop more from boarding the station. The rest of you will follow me and the 21st Regiment down under the Droids. King, I'll need an exosuit because were going to need to forcibly detach that frigate from the outside of the dock." Naruto responded again as King nodded.

"Understood, sir!" King went to find an Exosuit as the rest of the Clones boarded the gunships with naruto.

"Right. _**Four-ninety-seventh...**_ let's head out!" Naruto shouted as they all gave out a war cry and ran to the gunships, quickly boarding them as the gunships began to take off.

"Siri, we're heading out now. Be sure to clear a comfy path for us, will ya?" Naruto spoke into his transmitter as his gunship sealed it's airlocks took off.

 **With Siri**

"Copy that." Siri responded as she banked left while firing at incoming Droid fighters. Once the Droid fighters were destroyed, she quickly located the flock of gunships exiting from the hangar bay of the two Venators.

"Flash, protect those gunships." Siri ordered as she started to press a few buttons.

 _"Understood, but, what are you gonna do?"_ Flash questioned as Siri smirked before her starfighter climbed to higher speeds, straight towards a Droid frigate blocking the path of the gunships.

"Just making way." She responded. Flash just shook his head as he rallied some fighters and began to cover for the gunships. Siri meanwhile was maneuvering her starfighter at insane speeds, dodging all incoming fire. Once she was close enough, she started to fire away at the turbolaser batteries, knocking them out first. It seemed that the Frigate's shields had failed due to the massive amount of damage it had taken from the Republic vessels. Circling back around, she headed straight for the ships engines.

"C'mon kids, you can do better than that!" Siri yelled as she spun her fighter and dove straight down, firing missiles at the engines, managing to destroy one. The destruction of one engine triggered a chain reaction, causing the other engines to explode as well, leaving the vessel dead in space. Smirking at her handiwork, she circled around once more to take a shot at the bridge, but it seems like the Droids had other plans. Gritting her teeth, she was forced to break off her attack as once more Droid fighters quickly got on her tail.

"Just how many Droid fighters are there?!" She yelled, wondering how in the name of the Force did the Separatist manage to bring so many Droids into battle?

 **With Naruto**

Naruto stood in his gunship, eyes closed as the gunship headed towards the stardock. The other Clones around him were eager to fight, as they checked their weapons and made small talk. Naruto, however, was thinking about something else. He watched as another Separatist frigate moved in to dock with the station.

 _"The Separatist Navy consists of a majority of Droids on Frigates, meaning that they can sacrifice space that is used up for life support systems for extra space for fighters, turbolaser batteries, Droid carriers, and more."_ He contemplated the tactics of the Separatists. He had learned the vessel dynamics before even going to battle. It seemed like that the Separatists were using the same philosophy when it came to land battles. Fielding a large number of cheap droids with a few bulkier command units. Deploying thousands in swarm tactics. It made it difficult for the Republic to fight against all of their offensives, but by focusing on a select few key battles, victory was pretty easy... if you knew what you were doing, that is.

 _"Sir, we're approaching the hangar bay."_ The gunship pilot informed him as Naruto nodded. He would need to change his plan of attack. The gunship quickly entered the hangar bay as the doors slid open, allowing the Clones to pour out of the gunships. Looking around, Naruto spotted Que-Mars as he jumped out of the gunship.

"Master Que-Mars." Naruto called out as the Weequay Jedi approached the blond Jedi General.

"Master Naruto." Que-Mars replied with a bow as Naruto gave a sheepish grin.

"I'm no Master." Naruto stated as the Weequay Jedi smiled at that. For his age, Naruto was a popular man within the Republic and the Jedi Order. His actions from his youth and during the first battle of the war had elevated the young man to the level of a hero of the Republic. His promotion to a Sector Army commander further boosted that image of the young Jedi Knight.

"I am a Master now, but that's only thanks to you. All the survivors of Geonosis owe you our lives. Your word is just good as any Jedi Master." Que-Mars stated as Naruto smiled at the Weequay's compliment. Despite being part of the same army, the two hadn't gotten a chance to meet each other directly. Duty calls, after all.

"Thank you, but we have more pressing matters to attend. You'll have to take care of that first frigate by yourself." Naruto stated as the Weequay Jedi Master nodded and quickly broke off into the preselected group with Master Que-Mars taking his 242nd and two and a half Regiments of the 497th, which included King, Gamble and Storm's companies. Naruto took his part of the 497th and headed towards the elevators.

 **With Que-Mars**

Master Que-Mars and his forces quickly ran through the hallway, heading straight towards the Droid forces on the other side of stardock. However, they underestimated the advance of the Droid forces as they entered one of the hangar bays where starfighters were assembled filled with Droids attempting to break through security forces, which were at their breaking point.

"Gamble, have your company tend to the wounded. Storm and the rest of us will push back the Droids." Que-Mars ordered as Gamble nodded and took his men to tend to the wounded soldiers while Que-Mars activated his saber and charged straight into the Droid forces with the 382nd and Storm's company.

"Now this is what I call a fight!" Storm shouted as he charged into a Droid, smashing it's face with his blaster as the rest of his brothers followed his example. With ruthless efficiency 7th Company pushed a large part of the Droid forces back, their unorthodox tactics of facing the Droids up close was something the Droids were not able to compute. Their cheap programming had programmed them to engage the enemy only at range, they weren't ready for the Clones up close battle style.

"Come on, stay with me." Gamble said as he patched up a wounded soldier, who groaned in pain. The man's right side was riddled with shrapnel, but it wasn't a wound that Gamble couldn't patch up. It was one of his uncanny abilities. Gamble had a large knowledge of biology of not just humans, but different aliens as well.

"D-Droids!" The wounded security officer shouted as he pointed behind Gamble, who quickly grabbed his blaster and turned to destroy the Super Battle Droid behind him. No sooner did he destroy the B2 did more Droids started to break through from the right flank. Gamble grumbled as he shouted out to some of his brothers as they started to hold back the Droids on the right flank while the rest of the medics tended to the wounded. Gamble was no stranger to combat. He was pod brothers with King and Blitz, two of the toughest troopers in the Galaxy.

"No man left behind!" Gamble shouted as he and his brothers held back the Droids. He wasn't going to leave a man behind! As this was all going on, King observed them all as he too fought in the battle. He was tasked with protecting the Jedi Master, as the two spearheaded the attack on the left and middle flanks of the hangar.

 **With Naruto:**

"Push!" Naruto shouted as he and troopers pushed forward, cutting down Droids after Droids. As the pushed forward, a large number of Droids appeared from a pathway to their right.

"Builder! Take your Company and hold that hall! Do what you do!" Naruto ordered as Builder nodded and took his men to carry out the order. Quickly approaching the hallway, they opened fire at the incoming Droids as Builder looked around the hallway before he called out two of his men.

"I want you two to set explosives here and here. We're blocking this whole hallway!" Builder ordered as his men quickly began to place the explosives while he and the others covered them. While he was carrying out his orders, Stoic and Blitz were tearing through the Droids. Blitz unsheathed the small vibroblade under his custom knuckle plate and slashed through a droid that was unfortunate enough to be nearby.

"You three, on me!" Blitz ordered as he took a few of his best men and quickly went around the Droids by a maintenance shaft, surprising the Droids with their lighting speed, while Stoic and the rest of them pushed forward. As the group moved on, cutting through the Droids as Naruto covered their advance with his lightsaber. However, they were forced to take cover as an entire Battalion of B2s pushed past the smaller B1s and started to unleash a torrent of rapid blaster fire. Naruto frowned as he was forced to come to a halt, defending the Clones while the tried to break though.

"Dammit! These ones are tough!" Stoic shouted as he focused on a single B2, needing to fire it multiple times. However, just as it seemed that their advance was halted, the Droids in the hallway shook violently as they malfunctioned as they all fell. Across the hall, Fang was holding two EMP grenades, more affectionately referred to as Droid poppers, between his fingers, standing along with a few of his other troopers.

"What took you so long?" Naruto questioned as Fang chuckled.

"Perfect stealth simply cannot be rushed General." Fang responded coolly as Naruto rolled his eyes. He had sent Fang and some of his best men to go around the Droids, bypassing any Droids in their way without alerting them and then deploy Droid poppers to destroy the Droids.

"We have to keep moving." Stoic reminded Naruto, who nodded as they heard a loud blast down a hall to their right behind them.

"That takes care of them." Builder stated as he turned the corner. They had just collapsed the entire hallway upon the Droids, stopping their advance and blocking the hallway for good.

"Good, now let's get a move on!" Naruto shouted as the strike forces quickly began to push, encountering light resistance along the way. However, as they neared their first objective, the reactors, they found that the security forces were already being pushed back, losing control of the reactors that powered the entire station. If the Separatists gained control here, the entire station was in jeopardy. The security forces had hastily put together barricades and erected cover to form a defensive line.

"Builder, see what you can do about those defenses. Stoic, Blitz, reinforce their lines. Bulk, get some heavy weapons up there on the double! Fang, on me!" Naruto ordered the Captains, who quickly nodded. Builder quickly took charge of the defenses as he started to point out the weak links and filling them up. Bulk, along with his company, quickly began to bring up heavy cannons to stop the Droid advance. Stoic and Blitz held the line but started to lead small groups across the defensive line and into the Droids from their flanks.

"Who's in charge here?" Naruto questioned as he ran up to a bunch of security force soldiers. They weren't Clones, far from it. They were regular recruits that were given such tasks as keeping order, or simply guarding.

"The Commander was killed when the Droids boarded, but I'm the only senior officer left." A female soldier answered. When the Droids bordered, it was a massacre. Most of the security forces are new conscripts with incomplete training. A lot of them didn't think they would even have to fire a single shot during the battle. Thy were the first to go when the Seps bordered, this included most of the senior staff. The merciless clanking of the Droids across the hall terrified them, and the endless number of them didn't help. Some even choose to commit suicide then face the endless number of Droids. However, those who knew the treat the Droids possessed and had some form of military experienced survived and held out.

"What's your name and rank?" Naruto questioned the female, who raised an eyebrow.

"Sergeant Rev of the GAR. I used to be part of the shipyard's private security." She responded as Naruto nodded as he looked across the lines.

"Well then, Sergeant, you're now in charge of the defensive line." Naruto stated as Rev stared back flatly.

"I'm just a _Sergeant_ , General." She countered as Naruto raised an eyebrow as he deflected some incoming fire.

"Right, and I'm just a Jedi Knight. The ability to lead does not depend on rank. It depends on whether or not you can convince people to follow you. And it seems like you can. Not to mention you probably know this station better than anyone else." Naruto stated as Rev tried to come up with another counterpoint, but she had nothing.

"Understood, sir." She replied as Naruto nodded and scanned the Droid lines. The Droids just kept marching on and on, never wavering. They had deployed Droidekas

"What's the status of the Reactors?" Naruto questioned her as she fired her blaster at the incoming Droids.

"Not good I'm afraid. The Droids over ran our defenses and took the Reactor rooms. I saw some Droids carrying explosives into it. I think they're planting explosives. Don't think I need to tell you, but if those things blow they'd bring the whole station down, and all of the Venators in stardock with them." Rev answered as Naruto hummed. That was something he could not allow.

"We'll deal with the explosives. Fang, on me!" Naruto ordered as Fang followed after his General, leaving Rev in charge of holding back the Droids.

"Orders, commander?" She heard a Clone say as she sighed. Best you get to work then.

 **With Siri**

"HOW MANY GODDAMN FIGHTERS DO THEY HAVE?!" Siri shouted as once more Droid fighters were on her tail. It didn't help that they had lost many pilots on their side, but the Separatist seemed to have thousands of Droid fighters.

 _"Calm yourself, Siri. Don't give in to anger"_ She heard her former masters voice through the transmitter.

"I'm not angry, I'm just _**really**_ pissed off." she huffed, taking out two Droid fighters.

 _"Their attacks have started to fall short. The Separatist Fleet is losing steam."_ Gallia reassured her. True, the Separatists were clearly losing the battle now, but they weren't making it easy.

 **With Que-Mars**

Que-Mars had pushed the Droid Army back out of the fighter assembly area and all the way across the station to the Stardock. This was mostly due to the Storm's peculiar methods of engagement. He and his brothers pushed the Droids back in droves, clearing the way for the rest.

"That bunch sure lives up to their name." Que-Mars stated as King chuckle as he fired his pair of blasters at the Droids. He was letting Storm take the led on this one, it seemed like he had it under control. While Storm's company pushed further, Gamble and his brothers were patching up any Clone trooper that fell behind due to wounds.

"Storm likes to fight up close, no surprise that he thrives in an environment like this." King replied as they finally reached a long hallway that connected the Droid frigate and the station. This was the first one, and the second one would be taken care of by Naruto.

"Shut It down!" Que-Mars ordered as Storm quickly ran to the controls and shut the path way tight by activating the airlock. Que-Mars sighed as he deactivated his saber as everyone relaxed. They had done their part.

"Alright, let us head to the second one quickly, Naruto could probably use our help." Que-Mars stated as the strike forced began to head to where Naruto was supposed to be.

 **At the Reactors**

"I have to say, this is a pretty easy job!" A Battle Droid said as it set some explosives by one of the reactors.

"Quiet, get those devices in place." The lead Droid ordered.

"Roger Roger." The Droid replied as it turned around to place the explosive but found itself on the other end of a blaster.

"I hate this job…" The Droid said dejectedly before it was blasted as Fang quickly fired at the other Droids in the area. Naruto quickly jumped down from the air shaft that they had used to climb into the reactor room.

"I'll take care of the Droids, you deal with the explosives." Naruto ordered as Fang nodded and turned to deal with the explosives. Naruto meanwhile was deflecting the incoming fire. He sent a powerful force push, throwing many of the Droids against the wall, crushing them. Outside the reactor room, the rest of the strike force quickly pushed pass the Droids, clearing the outside of the reactor room.

"General, you in here?" He heard Rev questioned as Naruto opened the door to the reactor room and nodded.

"Fang's taking care of the explosives. In the meantime, we need to keep on pushing. There's still those frigates to deal with" Naruto stated as Rev nodded as she gathered the remnants of the security forces, eager to help the blond Jedi push the Droids out. Maybe this way she could be more then just cannon fodder that's tasked with keeping order. She wanted to be on the frontline, that's why she volunteered. She didn't want to be guarding the same old station she had been working on.

 **With Captain Marck**

Zels Marck was considered a competent commander, if a bit of a glory hound. Prior to the formation of the Grand Army of the Republic, he was just a small-time Captain of a small fleet tasked with patrolling the sublight sections of hazardous Hyperspace routes, keeping them safe from pirates and criminals. He had climbed the ranks at a reasonable pace, and was a capable Captain with a good grasp of tactics. He was always seeking to prove himself, even when outnumbered and outgunned. The man was one of the best the Republic had to offer, and Naruto had changed his mind about Zels very quickly.

After Siri had broken his groping hand and he'd learned his manners, of course.

"Focus fire on that destroyer!" Zels ordered, pointing at a damaged Recusant-class destroyer. Throughout the battle, Gallia had lost most of her fleet, but with Zels in command, they had only lost two Arquitens and a single Dreadnaught-class cruiser. Two of Zel's Acclamators were pretty heavily beat up and had to retreat from the area of fire.

While Fox was left in command of the _Fire's Shadow_ , tasked with protecting General Gallia's damaged Venator, Zels had taken command of the entire Republic fleet at Fondor. Their surprise attack had quickly dispatched two of the Droid frigates. He had maneuvered his vessel in between the station and the Droid fleet, preventing more of the Droid Fleet from approaching the dockyards.

In the aftermath, Zels had quickly destroyed one of the Recusant warships and throughout the battle the Separatist fleet had been steadily losing frigates. With their last destroyer breaking apart from Zel's concentrated turbolaser barrage, what was once a fleet of fourteen ships was now only four, excluding the two that had docked with the station. Separatist fleet that had survived had begun to turn around and make preparations for a jump back to Confederacy-controlled space.

"Sir, the enemy fleet is trying to retreat into hyperspace." An officer stated as Zels frowned. He wasn't going to let them get away.

"Do not let then escape, target their engines!" Zels ordered and his gunners followed suit. He wasn't about to let anyone escape today. As his fleet raced to catch up with the newly disable Munificent, focused on taking out as many droids as possible, another Star Destroyer dropped out of hyperspace, blocking the immediate path of retreat for the Droid Fleet. The Venator-class immediately began opening fire, destroying the heavily damaged Munificent-class. Zels was probably equally as shocked as the Separatists. He knew who was commanding that Star Destroyer.

"Ross. How is it that you're here already?" Zels asked with narrowed eyes. Ross Darahan, Naruto's Admiral, and a man who was just a bit _**too**_ calculating when it came to victory. How Ross arrived from that direction was beyond him. He was commanding the main body of the 10th Army back at Corellia. He had to have passed Fondor in hyperspace and then turned around. How had Ross predicted the exact angle at which the Separatists would try to make their retreat?

 _"I finished up the battle at Corellia some time ago, Captain Marck. I assumed you might need help here. I need battle report immediately."_ The hologram of Ross appeared behind him as Zels turned to face the Admiral. Ross was his superior, not matter how much he didn't like the guy's complete lack of empathy in battle.

"Most of the Droid Fleet has been dealt with, but the General and Master Que-Mars are currently fighting back the Droids that have boarded the stardock. They started boarding immediately after the Separatists docked... about an hour ago. They managed to dislodge one of the frigates, but there's still one docked with the station." Zels reported as Ross raised an eyebrow before he turned to his side, signaling his deck officer to bring up the schematics of the station. Ross went over them briefly and hummed as yet another CIS frigate was ended with a violent explosion.

 **With Naruto**

In the chaos of the battle, Naruto didn't notice his communicator beeping. Endless waves of droids were down mowing his troops downs and still pouring out from the Munificent-class. For every hundred he himself cut down, a thousand more boarded the station, raining increasingly blaster fire on the severely outnumbered clones. Even with the Security Forces, he still only had about thirty-five hundred troops with him. If Naruto was correct, each Munificent had over a hundred and fifty thousand battle droids. He was hopelessly outnumbered 40 to 1.

They had to detach that frigate as soon as possible, but that would require boarding it and detaching it from the bridge itself. He knew that he would be able to do it, plus, capturing a Droid vessel would revel valuable intelligence such as tactics and strategies. Looking back, he knew that his legion yet would be unable to take over the frigate. He needed Master Que-Mars and the rest of the strike force to ensure a complete take over of the Droid frigate. However, as he fought on, Ross finally decided to stop hailing him and came to a decision to override Naruto's command as the second highest ranking officer within the area.

 **With Ross and Zels**

 _"Captain, that Droid frigate docked with the station, we are going to destroy it. I need you to open fire from point nine five, and_ _ **only**_ _from point nine five. Distance thirty. We'll be engaging at point oh six - similar distance."_ Ross ordered as Zels eyes widened.

"Are you insane, Ross?! You could cause a chain reaction and destroy the station! Over twenty thousand of our own troops are on it!" Zels protested as Ross gave him a blank look.

 _"Thank you for your input, Captain, but am in command. I haven't made this decision without the proper calculations. General Uzumaki is indisposed and I can't hail him on any communications, and my orders stand. I want that frigate destroyed immediately."_ Ross stated as he cut the transmission. Zels turned to look at Ross' flagship, the _Pride_ , as it ignored the two droid frigates that jumped to hyperspace and started to fire at the one still docked. He balled his hands into fists as the helmsman moved their own Star Destroyer into position. Their gunners had begun to A priority one transmission was put through him.

 _"Zels, why are you firing upon that frigate?! Naruto's still on board the station!"_ It was Siri, panicking, who questioned the decision to attack. Zels sighed.

"I didn't give the order." He responded as Siri gave him an incredulous look.

 _"Then stop your Star Destroyers!"_ She ordered, but Zels shook his head.

"I can't, _**we**_ can't. We don't have the authority." He responded as Siri growled at that. Naruto was fighting the Droids on that station. This was putting him, along with everyone else on board, in danger.

 **With Naruto**

"Dammit! General! The controls are shot!" Builder shouted as he punched the control panel. The Separatists had sabotaged the airlock controls. As the fight dragged on and more and more of his troops fell, Naruto bared his teeth in frustration. Sure, they had destroyed a ton of Droids, but that frigate was still filled with tens of thousands more.

 _"I guess I've got to come up with a plan to take over that whole damn Frigate…"_ Naruto thought as he kept fighting. At this rate, the only other choice would be to take the enemy ship itself! However, as they were fighting, the Droid frigate rocked as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"What the?" He questioned as the Droid frigate started to explode, with the turbolasers tearing through its sides. One of these explosions vented towards the long corridor that connected the frigate and the stardock.

"Oh _**shi-**_!" Naruto's shout was cut short as part of the the corridor was ripped from the rest of the station in a tremendous explosion. He didn't have to to say anything as the rapidly releasing air pressure in the station started to suck everything outside into space. He immediately leaped to grab the railing through the roaring wind. He heard a loud scream, female, from behind him.

Naruto looked back to see Rev scrambling along the floor trying to find something to grab onto, along with many of his Clones. He gritted his teeth as he started to use the Force to prevent Rev from falling victim to the cold abyss. He succeeded, but many Clones and Republic Troopers were pulled out into space before the emergency airlocks kicked in. Naruto huffed as he took in some air. They had almost died. He growled as he stood up and clutched his hands into fists. A handful of the security forces had fallen victim to space. Whoever gave the order to fire on that frigate was going to pay dearly.

 _"Naruto! Are you ok?!"_ He heard Siri's voice from his transmitter.

"I'm fine. What of the Separatist forces?" Naruto questioned, wondering what had happened outside.

 _"Only two of their frigates managed to jump into hyperspace. Most of the Droid fighters are also destroyed, but it seems like Tambor was on one of the ships that escaped."_ She reported as Naruto nodded.

"I'll see you later then." Naruto said as he cut the transmission and ordered for gunships.

 **Onboard the** _ **Pride**_

Naruto walked down the halls of the Venator as he made his way to the bridge. Flanking him on his right was Fox and to his left was Siri. Marching into the elevator, the three waited as it took them to the bridge. The door slid open as Naruto walked out, Fox and Siri following him a few steps behind.

"Ross!" Naruto shouted as the said Admiral turned to face the blond Jedi with a look of indifference.

"General, I'm glad to see you survived the battle." Ross greeted Naruto with a warm smile as Siri resisted the urge to choke the Admiral against the wall. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he stood across the Admiral.

"Yes, I did. No thanks to you." Naruto replied as Ross didn't seem to care.

"And yet, thanks to me, the Droids were prevented from destroying the station." Ross stated as Naruto marched close to the Admiral.

"I had the situation under control, but you came and disobeyed Zels orders and fired upon the frigate! Because of you, half my strike team got sucked out into space! Not only that, but we lost some good men because of your actions! Even the stardock was damaged!" Naruto stated as Ross narrowed his eyes.

"The construction of that Stardock was different." Naruto blinked. Ross took the opportunity to continue. "I had noticed that that particular stardock's durasteel supports interlocked in a different pattern than the rest, an older design - it must have been one of the first ones they built. That frigate's bore anchors and magnetic clamps would have never come loose unless you had reached the bridge and disabled them manually." Naruto's mouth hung wide open. Was that why he'd had so much trouble? Naruto dismissed his confusion and went back on the offensive.

"And what made you think I wasn't capable of taking over that frigate? I had almost half a Legion with me. Ross sighed and reluctantly explained his plan.

"Had I not fired on that ship, the Droids would have just kept coming. Thankfully, those interlocking supports are much sturdier. If the fleet fired at the right angle as we did, the station would've been in no danger. On the other hand, you would have lost more men in trying to fight them off than me destroying the frigate. The ones who died would have died anyways, they were already injured, weren't they?" Ross stated as Naruto's eyes widened again. That was his excuse? They were going to die anyways so they might as well be sacrificed for the greater good? He would have loved to punch his lights out, but Siri beat it to him and slapped the Admiral right across his eyepatch.

" _ **You**_... They are our comrades! They are living breathing beings! Not only that, but you almost killed your Jedi General! If that's your attitude, then you might as well quite now. Killing your own men at the cost of victory is no way to inspire loyalty. Your own men might shoot you in the back because of that arrogance of yours." Siri vented out as Ross started down at the Jedi Master. Siri turned and started to leave as Fox followed the Jedi Master.

"I ought to have you court martialed for striking a superior officer." Ross growled. "I didn't make this decision lightly. I attacked because I was confident that the General would be fine. I weighed the risks and saved more lives than you think, Ms. Tachi." She and Fox didn't stop walking.

"Be lucky you only got a slap Ross. Next time you pull something like that, I'll be the one cracking your skull. Your military career will end in my holding cell." Naruto stated as he turned to leave as well. He would not tolerate insubordination, not when lives were at stake. He was not afraid of using the power that came with his position.

As he left, Ross merely stood there, a frown on his face. He considered the Jedi too soft, not being able to weigh the pros and cons of his decisions. He held no respect for his Jedi General, and he doubted he ever would. They weren't the ones who had spent their entire adult lives relentlessly fought pirates to keep the Republic safe. He noticed that everyone at the bridge had stopped working and just kept looking at him.

"Get back to work. Send rescue teams already, you fools. Clone armor doubles as an exosuit so those trapped in space might still be alive." He ordered as the bridge crew got back to work. Turning back around, he looked out into the vast expanse of space.

 _"Stupid Jedi."_ He thought furiously. He and Tarkin would have something to talk about the next time they sat down. Shaking his head, he refocused on what really mattered, the war. Despite being livid with her, Ross neglected to report Siri.

 _"Although, who knows. Miss Tachi might look even cuter in a prison jumpsuit."_ Ross let out a chuckle; careful not to let anyone see or hear him.

 **How was it? Good, bad? Leave a review then! So, we are seeing Fondor before the Empire…before the dark times…anyways, we also see many different Clones and officers within Naruto's army and their different personalities and ways of fighting. Most of them were invented by my beta, actually ALL of them were invented by my beta! Expect for Builder, I made him. What would I do what him? Well, that's the end of this chapter and I hoped you all enjoyed it! Bye!**


	15. The Siege Of Bestine

**Hello! How are you all doing? Good I hope! So, I got another chapter for this story and with it, this story has officially reached over 100K words, and it's my first story to do so to! All of this is thanks to my beta reader/writer, he really knows how to inspire someone. Now, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, as it's action packed and a certain someone will be introduced in this chapter. You'll love it. With that, I will see you at the end.**

 **Onboard the** _ **Pride**_

Three days had passed by since the Battle of Fondor and things had started to escalate form there on. The Separatists, fresh from their first major defeat, fell back into their territories and began a series of hit and run tactics. Attacking hyperspace routes and supply convoys, trying to deprive Fondor of supplies and rations. This sort of tactic seemed fit well for the fast and agile Separatist frigates. However, the order had come down from on high that this situation needed to change soon.

 _"Bestine is very strategic location that we cannot allow the Separatists to maintain control of."_ A hologram of Master Windu briefed the Aayla Secura of the 327th Star Corps, Depa Billaba of the 108th Elite, and Even Piell of the 99th Assault Corps. The Jedi Generals all held pretty pensive looks on their faces.

"So we're to take Bestine? I highly doubt that the Separatists will simply allow us to shove them off the planet and move in. It's got the bulk of their droid factories for the entire sector." Aayla commented as the other's nodded.

 _"Bestine, at all cost, must be taken. It hosts a large number of massive shipyards capable of building dozens of warships a week, warships that the Separatists have been using to launch persistent attacks on the hyperspace routes. Notwithstanding is the planet's tremendous reserves of natural ores. However, the primary reason for the importance of this battle is that it lies on a key hyperspace route that sees heavy traffic to the Southern Outer Rim."_ Windu carried on as Tarkin frowed at this.

"I know this route all too well. While this whole mess was just starting, I was Governor of Eriadu. And I remember having to order cargo ships to stop short of Bestine, circle around at sublight speeds, and then finally make their way back onto the main route.

"And if the Separatists control it, they could potentially choke the Outer Rim worlds of supplies from the worlds. They could be forced into join the Confederacy." Depa stated as Windu nodded to his former Padawan.

 _"Then you're all aware why it is so important we take Bestine from the Separatists as soon as possible. As of now, Master Tachi is engaged at Fresia; and the Chancellor has chosen Naruto to lead the counterattack on Tynna. I'm afraid you three are tasked with taking Bestine, alone."_ Windu stated as they all exchanged looks. Admiral Darahan, who had been silent this whole time, took the opportunity to speak up.

"Master Windu, as you said, Bestine has a large number of shipyards. How are we supposed to take Bestine with only four Venators and a handful of frigates and support ships." Ross addressed the concerns that they al lshared, but Mace only smiled.

 _"I had thought one of you might ask that. Fondor Shipyards has a gift for the 10_ _th_ _Army, think of it as reward for Naruto rescuing them. Ten additional Star Destroyers are being sent your way, fresh off the assembly line. They should arrive at your current location within the day."_ Mace could see some of the tension leave their bodies.

"Do not worry Master Windu. We will take Bestine." Even stated as Windu nodded and the transmission was cut. The three Jedi Generals began conversing with their advisors. Ross began to formulate battle plans with Tarkin and Olander, while Bly and Aayla took the lead on strategizing the taking of the planet. They had a deadline of two days to prepare and launch their assault.

 **Three Weeks Later, Bestine**

The Siege of Bestine was without question, the largest battle in the war to date, as three full Corps were deployed on the surface of the planet to deal with the Separatist ground forces. While the battle on the surface raged on, the battle above was equally contested. While the 10th Sector army had deployed what was probably the largest Republic fleet in the galaxy, it was dwarfed by the Separatist Armada that outnumbered the Republic Fleet three-to-one, although over the course of the battle the Republic had managed to slim the odds down. The battle was heavily stacked against their favor, but they were able to punch through the initial defenses, landing over one hundred thousand Clones onto the surface.

"Commander, what's the situation?" Aayla questioned as she crouched down next to her Clone Commander, CC-5052 Bly. Bly brought up his recon visors and quickly began to report to the General.

"Good so far. Our forces seemed to be doing well against the Droids. Master Piell's flanking maneuver managed to catch their forces by surprise, and with our center advancing up, we can wipe out the Droid forces in this sector. That stronghold will be ours before nightfall." Bly reported as Aayla nodded. While they were destroying Droids by the tens of thousands in each battle, it mattered little as the Droid factories on planet were producing thousand more every hour. The further in they pushed, the more resistance they met.

"Very good. Once this fortress is secure, I want our forces to rest up. We have a long battle ahead of us if we want to take their headquarters." Aayla said with a sigh as she looked up towards the sky. It was filled with multiple warships, blasting away at each other.

 **Onboard the** _ **Vanguard**_

The Star Destroyer known as the _Vanguard_ was the flagship of Jedi General Depa Billaba, who was currently on the surface below fighting the Droid forces. In her place was Captain Jess Strouh. She was the daughter of a very wealthy businessmen on Corellia, but it was clear that she wanted nothing to do with the family business. She chose a different path than her father and signed up for the Republic Navy as soon as she reached the minimum age.

She proved herself capable during the many simulations, and was ready to work her way up the ranks with hard work. But was surprised when she was given officer training, promoted to Captain, given command of her own ship, and made part of the Coruscant Defense Fleet, the most boring assignment in the galaxy for a Navy man - er, woman. It was where careers went to die and where stubborn old men went to retire. She had no doubt that her father had pulled some strings to get her this cushy assignment, and she _hated_ it. He'd been controlling her all his life. Now that the Separatist Crisis had escalated into full blown war, she had been called into active duty. There wasn't anything more her daddy could control, and she _loved_ that.

"Munificent-class approaching Starboard bow!" A Clone officer shouted out as Jess narrowed her eyes.

"Use the Ion Cannons to disable it followed up by a concentrated barrage from our Starboard batteries, drop the shield and attack with full power!" Jess ordered as the Ion Cannons quickly switched targets and started to fire at the incoming Droid frigate, disabling it's shields and some weapon systems.

"Fire!" She ordered. Their turbolaser batteries hammered the immobile Droid frigate. The impacts forced the ship down towards the planet's atmosphere. Without their engines, the ship couldn't reach escape velocity and was caught in Bestine's gravitational pull. With the heavy damage it had already sustained, the ship didn't last long. It was torn in two in a matter of seconds. Jess let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in.

That was the second frigate her vessel had to take down alone. Adding it up with the rest of her Fleet, the number was up to six. Tarkin and Wyle's fleets, on the other hand, had taken out nine or ten each, and the Pride was currently embroiled in a battle with four frigates and still holding strong. And that was just today! Over the three week long battle, they had taken out at least a hundred Separatist ships, although that was counting ships stationed at the two stardocks they had destroyed, but still. She knew that she wasn't as good as some of the other commanders present at the battle, but she wasn't about to roll over and play the incompetent either.

 **With Ross and the** _ **Pride**_

Ross frowned in frustration even as one of the frigates engaging him began to break apart. The Separatist Admiral was competent enough to know how to press his advantage. Ross was completely separated from the rest of the Republic fleet and had to fend off the enemy attacks on his own. The Separatists still greatly outnumbered them, and the enemy Admiral knew it and thus was attacking from all sides.

"Dammit, I can't think straight with all these moving targets." He muttered. While he was a skilled Admiral, thus far he had been dealing with pirates and smugglers in relative low numbers and small crafts. This was the largest engagement he had been in with an actual enemy. These weren't pirates with secondhand tech, these were a well-funded splinter faction of the republic with a massive droid army and first rate warships capable of fighting back as much as he could. As he scanned the battlefield, he spotted two Droid Frigates breaking of their attack and began to retreat. He narrowed his eyes at that. Why would they retreat now?

"Sir, we have incoming ships jumping out of hyperspace!" An Officer reported as Ross cursed his luck, more Droid warships?! However, as the ships dropped out of hyperspace, he was shocked to see just what kind of ship it was.

"Impossible…" He muttered. The ship was long, probably the length of a Venator and it was also comparable in size. It boosted multiple heavy turbo batteries and point defense systems. At the very reader of the vessel, just below the bridge was a large hanger stretching from the Portside to the Starboard. It seemed that the Separatists now had a vessel in their arsenal that could go toe to toe with a Venator.

"Sir, that Separatist ship is targeting us!" Another Officer yelled as Ross was broken out of his thoughts.

"Intensive forward deflector shields!" Ross yelled and just in time as the new Separatist warship fired all batteries. The shields were able to prevent any serious damage, but it soon became clear that this new ship was quite the threat.

"We have more incoming!" Ross rolled his eyes at that, just what he needed. Soon four more ships of the same design jumped out of hyperspace.

"Angle our bow forty degress downward and move two of our support ships ahead and have them switch all power to topside deflectors. When all ships are in position, begin a full power barrage. We need to see how much that thing's shields can take." Ross sighed so heavily that it was almost a growl. This was going to be a tough battle. The toughest battle he'd ever faced.

And that fact made him tremble in excitement.

 **With Tarkin and the** _ **Conquest**_

"I want a scan of those ships, immediately." Tarkin ordered as a Clone Officer nodded and turned to his team, getting straight into work. The former Eriadu governor saw the word very analytically. While this made him a great Captain for the Republic's navy, it didn't make him the most inspiring leader.

"Sir, two of the Droid Frigates are trying to encircle us." A Clone pointed out as Tarkin hummed. He had known that fact before the Clone even pointed out to him. The Separatist Admiral was competent enough to exploit their number's disadvantage.

"Reverse in full speed. Focus fire on the Portside target first." Tarkin ordered as the order was carried out to the gunner. The heavy turbolaser batteries turned to face the Droid frigate before sending a barrage of heavy fire towards it. The barrage managed to damage the vessel, but it was still going strong. Tarkin quickly ordered another Venator in his command to circle around the approaching Droid Frigates and to attack them from the rear. As the battle between warships raged on, thousands of Droid fighters were flying all over the place, making life hard for the Republic. Thankfully, they had quite a few corvettes of their own to act as point-defense platforms, along with Vice Admiral Wyle Olander.

 _"Captain Tarkin."_ Tarkin was broken out of his thoughts as a hologram of Olander appeared before him. Tarkin raised an eyebrow, wondering what the old Admiral wanted. Olander was considered to be one of the best the Republic had and was also respected throughout its military. Wyle was quite the opposite of he and Ross. Olander specialized in naval warfare - most importantly, Starfighter combat. It was one of the reasons why he was chosen for the 327th Star Corps.

"Yes, Admiral?" Tarkin questioned with little interest. Aside from Naruto and Ross, Olander was the highest rung on the totem pole, and would assume command of the entire Sector Army should anything happen to them, and also the next in line should anything happen to Ross and the Jedi's in the 10th Sector Army.

 _"The Droid forces are concentrating their forces on Captains Strouh's flank. While she is holding out well enough, her forces will be overwhelmed if something is not done."_ Olander stated as Tarkin noticed that the two flanking Frigates were dealt with.

"And what do you have in mind?" Tarkin questioned once more, if Olander was contacting him, then he must have had a plan.

 _"You're out to our left, I want you to push the Separatist right flank and collapse it. With their right flank gone, the Separatist Admiral will be forced to either retreat or send more vessels from the center to the right, destabilizing the center just enough for Ross to break though to Strouh."_ Olander explained as Tarkin thought over the plan.

"What about those new Separatist warships? They're not as easy to deal with as the Frigates." Tarkin pointed out as Olander nodded.

 _"That is why I am directing two squdrons of bombers with escort fighters to support your attack. They will assist you in breaking through the enemy flank."_ Olander replied as Tarkin nodded.

"Very well." Tarkin said as the transmission was cut.

"Have the Fleet push towards the enemy, full speed." Tarkin ordered as the Venator, followed by two others, began to push their side. However, as they engaged the Droid warships on his side, something odd started to happen.

"They are pulling back…" Tarkin muttered as he narrowed his eyes. What was the Separatist Admiral thinking? If the right flank pulled back, then the center would be exposed from Republic attack. Tarkin shook his head, maybe the Separatist Admiral wasn't as competent as he had thought.

"Have one of our Star Destroyers break off and engage the Separatist center." Tarkin ordered, getting a bit bold. Soon enough, the closest Venator to the center broke off, shifting its fire towards the center.

"Sir, we are getting a priority message from Admiral Olander." A Clone Officer stated as Tarkin sighed, what was it this time?

"Well, what is it?" Tarkin questioned as the Officer looked down at the data pad.

"It reads: Fall back, the Separatist are blocking communications…and it cuts off from there." The Officer reported as Tarkin frowned. This was unexpected. They weren't blocking their communications until now, but that would mean…

"Fall back immediately, full reverse!" Tarkin shouted out as more Separatist warships held in reserve jumped out of hyperspace right next to his Fleet. Tarkin's eyes narrowed with the realization. The enemy knew that they would going to push forward and lured him into a trap.

 **Lucrehulk** _ **Procurer**_ **:**

"Sir, our flanking Fleet has arrived." A Droid reported to its Admiral, a Neimoidian. The Neimoidian was the color of Green that all others were, however, he carried himself humbly in his strides, unlike many others who conveyed an aura of arrogance. His eyes were covered by the data goggles he wore, and were equipped with a rotating scope, connecting him to his flagships many systems.

"Good, have the Frigates push pass the enemies right flank to box them in." The Neimoidian ordered as the Droid complied, sending out the orders. The Neimoidian allowed a smirk to grave his face as he observed the battle carefully. He wasn't a fool, and it showed in his battle strategy. He was going to make use of the superior numbers and the Republic's overconfident officers to win the day.

"Sir, we have a transmission from Count Dooku." A Droid reported as the Neimoidian frowned. What did the Count want during such a pivotal battle?

"Proceed." The Neimoidian ordered as the Droid pressed a few buttons, allowing the hologram of one Count Dooku to appear. Now many would either bow to bend a knee when the Count appeared before then, but not this Neimoidian. To the Count, the man before him was one of his most trusted naval commanders, and very much capable of carrying out his orders down to the last word.

 _"Admiral Mar Tuuk, I am to assume that the Republic forces are being dealt with?"_ The Count questioned the now named Neimoidian, who in-turn nodded as his scope rotated.

"The Republic has some bright leaders, but they are easily lured into a trap due to their overconfidence. By the next planetary rotation they shall be crushed." Tuuk replied as the Count nodded, trusting the Admiral.

 _"Very good. However, there are other matters that I need to discuss."_ Dooku stated as Tuuk raised an eye at that. Taking his silence as a go ahead, Dooku pulled out a holodisk and activated it to show a hologram of a Providence Class Carrier/Destroyer. However, this one was a much larger variant, twice the size of the others, boosting a much larger number of heavy batteries, point-defense systems and had slightly different coloring.

 _"This vessel belongs to your new superior officer for the remainder of the battle. He shall be arriving shortly to deal with the Jedi invasion on land, where your colleague has failed miserably."_ Dooku stated as Tuuk frowned. While he was a veteran officer and an excellent commander, the Jedi still presented a problem down at the surface below. Whoever

"Will this vessel be taking part in the battle?" Tuuk questioned. It was important for him to know weather this vessel would take part in the battle so be could adjust his strategy. Dooku shook his head.

 _"No. This vessel will only deploy the new General, and then observe the battle from afar."_ Dooku replied as Tuuk nodded before he turned towards the battle before him.

"I am assuming this will be all?" He questioned the Count, who nodded, and the transmission cut off. Good, he could focus back on the battle.

"Set batteries to full power and aim for that Star Destroyer's engines, the one near the center. Once the engines are destroyed, we will pull it in and finish it off." Tuuk ordered. He had arranged his Fleet in a manner in which the shields and the point-defense systems overlapped with each other, providing an almost impenetrable defensive line.

 **With Ross**

Ross frowned as the situation went from promising to god awful in just the span of a few seconds. Tarkin had become a bit overconfident in his push and had been lured into a particularly nasty trap. He was now boxed in. With one of Tarkin's Star Destroyers pulled into the enemy killzone, the Captain was left to fight the onslaught of the Droid warships alone.

 _"Admiral Darahan."_ Ross was broken out of his thoughts as he turned to look at a muddled hologram of Vice Admiral Olander using their backup holo channel, and he didn't look happy.

"This is about Tarkin, isn't it?" Ross questioned. One would say he and Tarkin were…friends? If he could call Tarkin that. He liked Tarkin's approach to battle, and he found the man was easy to get along with.

 _"Captain Tarkin's in trouble, and I want you to save him. The Droid Frigates behind him have cut off his retreat. Destroy those Frigates so he can fall back."_ Olander stated as Ross raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't I the ranking Admiral of the Sector Army?" Ross questioned with a slight smirk, intent on using his rank. Olander narrowed his eyes at Ross, this smart ass…

 _"I know you are on thin ice with General Uzumaki. The General would defer to my judgment in this case. So, speaking as someone who has the most experience, I am asking you to assist in Tarkin's retreat."_ Wyle used a stern tone that certainly sounded like he was the one giving orders. Ross gulped slightly. He might be an Admiral, but Olander still had far more experience. It seemed that rank didn't matter much in the 10th Sector Army, giving that their General is a Jedi Knight leading a cadre of Jedi Masters.

"Understood." Ross replied as Olander nodded, satisfied that Ross obeyed his command. The hologram faded away as Ross sighed.

"Full power to the deflector shields, we are going to save Tarkin." Ross said, a bit annoyed that he had to bail Tarkin out of the fine mess he had gotten himself into, and just when he had a strategy going.

 **Onboard the** _ **Vanguard**_

Jess, on the other hand, was now having a much easier time. The Separatist fleet had begun to focus on Tarkin, and so she started playing it safe and avoided drawing unnecessary attention. While her portion of the Fleet was engaged with the Droid Fleet, she noticed that the Droid Frigates would occasionally break off, leaving openings perfect for a push, but she also recognized that these were attempts to bait them. As soon as they would try to push, the Droid Frigates that were breaking off would change course to get behind them and the overall formation would tightened.

 _"Clever, but it won't work on me."_ She thought as she strategized in her head. She wasn't going to be a run of the mill Republic navy Captain that just sat there and ordered her vessel to keep firing on the enemy. No, she was going to do something. This stalemate was getting out of hand, and the Droids were slowly thinning down their numbers. She noticed how the Droids warships were overlapping themselves in-order to deflect most of the incoming fire.

 _"Maybe…"_ She thought as she let a grin worm its way onto her slender face.

"Have our Venators tighten formation. Ready the bombers and fighters!" She ordered as the Vanguard, along with two other Venator's started to tighten their formation, mimicking the enemies' strategy.

"Set the forward deflectors and shields to maximum power, flanking speed!" She shouted out her order, point straight at the enemies left flank. The Clones obeyed as Jess Fleet broke off from the defensive line.

 _"Captain Strouh, you are to t-take b-b-…"_ The transmission from Olander didn't make it as even their backup communications were now being jammed. Jess rolled her eyes. That old man was using traditional tactics. The Separatist Admiral was bold and daring. His tactics were designed to fight the unorthodox. While Wyle's strategy was sound, it wouldn't bring them victory, only cost them many lives and ships.

"On my mark, tell the bombers and fighters to engage the Separatist vessels!" She ordered as her Fleet punched through the Separatist left flank, creating a large gap, thus dividing the Separatist left flank into two.

"Now!" She ordered as bombers and fighters emerged from behind the three Venators hangers, targeting all surrounding Droid vessels. In the span of just a few minutes, she had managed to break the Separatist left flank.

 **Onboard the** _ **Procurer**_

"Uhm, sir, the Republic seemed to have destroyed our left flank." A Battle Droid reported to Tuuk, who looked surprise by the news.

"What?" Tuuk questioned as the Droid looked down at the data pad.

"The Republic has broken through our left flank and have started to engage our center." The Battle Droid reported. Tuuk frowned at this new situation, but he could easily deal with it.

"Bring the Providence-Class cruisers to reinforce our center-left." He ordered. That would be enough to halt the Republics attack.

 **With Ross**

Ross had easily shattered the Droid Frigates that were blocking Tarkin's retreat, however, he didn't retreat as Olander had instructed.

"Tarkin, I've got a plan and I need your cooperation." Ross said as he looked at a hologram of Tarkin.

 _"Well, out with it."_ Tarkin ordered as Ross started to send him data need for the plan. If everything worked out like had had planned, then the Droid Fleet would be shattered in minutes and the day would be theirs.

 **On the Surface**

While the battle in space intensified, the battle on the ground was going smoothly for the Republic. The Jedi were easily able to secure many strongholds and key positions, but none of that mattered due to the sheer number of Droids that the factories were producing. They had successfully taken another position and were planning to take the last of the fortress between them and the factories and the mining facilities.

"It's no use, the path is too narrow." CC-2232, otherwise known as 'Dragon', commented as they looked at the hologram layout of the map. The next Separatist fortress was guarded the other end of a valley. The Separatists had built twin fortress to guard the entrances from both sides.

"Then we have no choice." CC-8854, a sourpuss of a Clone who Naruto had nicknamed 'Nickname' as a form of punishment for refusing every other nickname they tried to give him,stated as he put his gold trimmed helmet on. The emblem of the 99th Assault Corps was prominently displayed. He was the Marshal Commander for it, after all.

"This is the last Separatist holdout and the resistance will be very heavy." Piell said grimly as he looked down at the fortress. The narrow valley wouldn't make things easier. Many were going to die just trying to reach the fortress.

"This is mad. You all realize that, right? We are walking into a killzone!" Depa commented, as if she was the only one aware of the threat level, but Aayla shook her head.

"There is no one way. Going around the valley will take too long, and we will be open to Droid ambushes. This is the only way." Aayla proclaimed. They were going to take that fortress, come hell or high waters. Turning to her Clone Commander, she gestured to him.

"Have our forces ready, walkers at the front followed infantry. Have the AT-RTs surge forward to break through the enemy lines and harass their positions." Aayla ordered, there wasn't much of a strategy they could use in this situation.

"Yes General." CC-5052 'Bly' replied as he went about to gather the men. Piell and Depa gave similar orders. They could only hope that their combined attack could break though the Droid defenses, but they all knew that victory would come at a high price. The preparations were quickly made as the AT-ET's were moved up at the frontlines, while the Jedi's walked close behind it.

"So, where is Siri? And Naruto for that matter? I haven't seen him once since the start of the war. Surely the battle at Tynna would be over by now. I hear he actually managed to get the populace riled up enough to fight alongside him." Depa questioned the others as they kept walking. She wasn't exactly aware of many things going on across the galaxy at the moment as their communication lines were still being jammed, so she didn't know the full story.

"Siri is currently dealing with Separatist raiding Fleets near Fresia. The CIS is concentrating its forces in the area trying to subdue the Incom Corporation. They do make all of our bombers, after all. As for Naruto, he has been protecting our supply lines since the battle at Tynna ended a week ago. If the supplies stop coming, then that means has Naruto has failed his objective. We would have to pull out of the battle if that happens." Aayla explained as Depa nodded in understanding. It seemed like everyone was truly fighting everywhere, even outside of their designated Sector.

"I suggest you ready your saber." Piell stated as he activated his saber just as the Separatist began to open fire. Aayla active her sabers as well, along with Depa. The three Jedi's quickly shot forward, past the AT-ET's, who returned fire at the Droid positions.

"Jedi! Blast them!" A Battle Droid called out as the three Jedi's neared the first line of Battle Droids. The Droids leveled their blasters and started to fire at the incoming Jedi's. Aayla used her sabers to deflect much of the blaster fire back at the Droids as she charged forward. When she finally reached the Droid line, she brought one of her sabers down, effectively cutting one of the Droids down before she spun around and cut another one.

"For the Republic!" Depa rallied their Clones as she jumped right into a group of Droids, falling back on her mastery of Form III to defend as she dispatched the Droids closest to her, cutting them down one-by-one. Piell by contrast was much more boisterous and attacked with extreme ferocity, but equal precision. None of his strikes wasted a bit of energy as he the heaps of Droid parts stacked up around him. While the Jedi forced their way through, fire from the Separatist's heavy cannons and mounted turrets rained all over the place as the Clone Regiment being commanded by Bly finally reached the first line of Droids, blasting away with their own DC-15A rifles and heavy weaponry.

"We have to keep moving." Aayla stated as she charged forward, already going for the next line of Droids, composed more heavily of B2 Supers rather than the standard B1's. She would leave the Clones to deal with the remaining Droids behind her as she was confident in their abilities.

 **At the Separatist Headquarters**

As the battle raged on, a very tall figure observed the battle before him, standing over the scrapped tactical droid that had managed to blunder throughout the entire battle of Bestine. He wasn't wasn't here to deal with the Clones, no, he was here for a different reason.

"Uhm, General, the Jedi's have broken through the first line." A Battle Droid reported as the General kept quiet. He took note that the Jedi's were engaging the third line of Droids, straying a bit too far from their Clone comrades. Wordlessly, the Separatist General turned around and started to make his way out of the fortress to face the Jedi.

It was time for the hunt to begin.

 **With Aayla:**

Aayla charged into the third line of Droids, with one more to go as her fellow Jedi's did the same. However, as they were cutting the Droids down, the Droids suddenly ceased their attacks and stepped back quite a bit, the B1s lowered their blaster rifles, and the B2s raised their wrist mounted weapons.

"I don't like this…" Piell commented as Depa nodded. The Three Jedi's simply stood there, their sabers at the ready. What was going on. It was then that they heard clanking, though it wasn't as heavy or loud as the march of the Droids, but it was till loud enough to be heard. The Droids started to part as a very tall figure walked into their view. Whatever it was, it was tall, taller than the largest Droid on the battlefield. The figure wore a cape that covered its body completely. The only thing visible was its face, but it looked more machine than organic. The only reason they knew it was a living creature was because of the visible flesh around its eyes.

"Greetings Jedi." It spoke, the voice heavy and synthetically altered by the mask. Aayla narrowed her eyes as she readied her saber.

"Surrender." She stated, but the creature merely chuckled at her offer.

"On the contrary, I believe it is you who should surrender, _Jedi."_ The creature said, emphasizing the word Jedi with hate. Aayla raised an eyebrow at that, but dismissed it. She ran in for an attack with Depa and Piell coming in from the right and left flanks. If this was the enemy commander on the ground, the defeating him would go a long way with winning the battle. As Aayla went in for her strike, the creature quickly activated two sabers, a Blue and a Green one, blocking both of her strikes. As Aayla's eyes widened.

 _"A Dark Jedi?!"_ She thought as she glanced at her two Jedi comrades closing in on both sides of the enemy. No, despite the color of his lightsabers, it would be more logical to assume this was a Sith apprentice to Dooku. Not hesitating further, Aayla put more effort into her attack in an attempt to keep the Sith distracted. In doing so, the presumed Sith chuckled.

"What's so funny?" She questioned as the Sith pushed back a bit.

"That you think you can win." He replied. In a blink of an eye, the blue saber dropped from his hand and was summarily caught by his durasteel-clad foot. The unorthodox strike from below nearly took the Twi'lek Jedi's arm off. Aayla retreated back into a safe distance as Piell's and Depa's ambush was thwarted. Again, the mysterious sith dropped his saber from his hand, gripped it in his foot, and did a high backflip attack that knocked Depa onto her behind.

"What the -" Depa didn't get to finish her sentence as the presumed Sith pushed his attack, causing Depa's lightsaber to be thrown out of her hand before the Sith grabbed her with his metal foot and tossed her, hard, into some nearby rubble. With a hand free, the cyborg attempted to strike at Aayla, but she quickly pushed back and leaped backward. Piell tried to retreat, but it was impossible as he was forced to defend himself against four lightsabers. He was barely keeping up with the creature that was using both of his sabers to strike him at him. It didn't help that each strike made his hand numb.

 _"He must be throwing at least a dozen saber strikes a second! Not even Uzumaki has this much speed... and the power he puts behind each attack with only one arm..."_ Piell thought as his hands begin to spasm in pain from the rapid strikes. He was quickly starting to become overwhelmed. Aayla tried to assist him by attack the cybernetically-enhanced Sith from behind. However, in a split second, one of the Sith's arms rotated at an angle which seemed impossible and started to fight Aayla while he kept up is assault against Piell.

 _"What is he?"_ Aayla thought. He couldn't be a Sith. While she could sense hatred and darkness with him, it wasn't strong enough to have a connection with the Force. While the two fought, Depa shook her head as she pulled her saber back towards her. Seeing that Aayla and Piell were engaged with the four-armed creature, she changed in once more, intent on striking it down. The creature took notice of this as he grabbed Piell via his clawed foot and threw him towards Bilaba. As it did so, he quickly used one of his hands as support while using his other foot to grab Aayla and threw her into the pile of two Jedi. The creature laughed as the three Jedi's groaned in pain while standing back up.

"I was under the impression that Jedi Masters were warriors of the highest caliber, clearly that is not the case." The creature mocked them as it let out a chuckle, but due to the mask altering the voice, it sounded dark. The Jedi's finally stood back up as dropped his cloak to the ground, they got good look at their foe's pearl white cybernetic body and their eyes widened. Their enemy was a Droid? No, he was more of a cyborg.

"W-What are you?" Aayla questioned, slightly shaken up as the cyborg chuckled.

"Your doom." He replied as his six-fingered arms split along the middle, the two lower appendages grabbed more sabers from his magnetic hips and activated them. The cyborg changed forward at blinding speed. Aayla's eyes widened as she instinctively blocked a power strike from all four sabers, failing miserably to maintain her defense as she collapsed onto the hard ground. Piell and Depa tried to aid her, but the cyborg kept them at bay with two of his blades. As the blue-skinned Jedi Master struggled to defend against his onslaught, the cyborg chuckled madly.

"I was trained in your Jedi arts by Count Dooku himself. You cannot defeat me." He spoke as he kept up his ruthless assault, giving the Jedi no time to spare. Losing her grip on the saber, Aayla begin to panic. In her desperation, she did the only thing she could in this situation to save herself. She reached out to the Force and pushed with all her might.

 **With Ross**

 _"Any time now, Darahan."_ Tarkin said to Ross who rolled his eyes at Tarkin's urgency. Ross smiled as he watched the battle play out. His fleet slowly moved into position. Jess had broken though one of the enemies' flanks, unknowingly helping him greatly. His plan was simple. Instead of retreating with Tarkin, he was going to push past the enemy's right flank, regardless if the enemy survived or not. He had calculated the damage and casualties they would suffer, and Tarkin agreed they were in acceptable range. Once he had pushed pass the enemy fleet, he would turn his and Tarkin's combined Fleet around and smash right into the Droid center rear.

"Now!" Ross shouted as his and Tarkin's Fleets surged forward, heading past the Droid warships while firing at them. He had adopted the same tactic that Jess had used by tightening their formations. The flank didn't give chase to them, instead, they closed the gap.

"Perfect." Ross said as he ordered the Venators around.

 **Onboard the** _ **Procurer**_

"What?" Tuuk looked in shock. He had thought that the Republic forces on his right flank would have retreated after they had fallen into the trap. It was under that line of thought that he ordered some of the warships to assist the center from the right! But with the Republic at his rear, he knew exactly what they were going to do.

"Bring the rear guard about!" He shouted, ordering the rear guard to quickly face the incoming Republic Venators, but it was too late. The Republic warships were already upon them, firing away at their engines and disabling many of them in the process. Tuuk grit his teeth and spit in anger. A moment ago he had victory assured, and now he had completely lost control of the situation. Not only that, but the other Republic warships were pushing as well from all sides, closing the pocket that had been created. This caused some of the Droid Frigates to crash into each other.

"Hyperdrive status, check the engines!" He ordered. It was over, he had been beaten and it was better to retreat now while he could. As he sat back down on his chair, he shifted through the datapad, with information regarding the Republic commanders in it. He matched the insignia on the Venators with the Separatist

"The 10th Sector Army. There Commanding General is Naruto Uzumaki…" He said to himself as he stroked his chin. He had heard many things about the young Jedi, even before the war had started. If the information he had on the Jedi General was still accurate, then he would be a formidable opponent. He assumed that the enemy leader would have chosen the best of the best for his army.

"Damage to engines minimal. Repairs complete. The hyperdrive is ready, sir." A Battle Droid reported as Tuuk nodded.

"Make for Separatist space." He ordered as his flagship, along with Providence-Class warships, jumped into hyperspace. He would be back after he had gathered his forces. This was only a temporary tactical withdrawal. He was confident that the Droid factories at down at the planet could hold out for very long time, along with the planetary shield generator protecting the main Separatist base. Even if the Republic had complete dominion over Bestinian space, the factories on the planet below had been built right on top of the mining facilities. In a sense, the factories had practically unlimited raw resources to build Droids.

"Send word to the 6th Fleet, reform at the given coordinates for another attack." Tuuk ordered. He would be back soon enough, and this time he was not going to fail.

 **With the Jedi**

Aayla growled as she narrowly dodged another sequence of strikes. She readied her blade for a counter attack, but was forced to dodge a flailing clawed foot. They had been fighting this cyborg for quite a bit, long enough for the front lines to catch up. All around them Droids and Clones were fighting. One of the Clones got bold and tried to shoot the cyborg, only for said Clone to be caught by the cyborgs foot before he was thrown into his brothers.

He really liked using those things in battle.

"This is all too easy!" The cyborg said with that maddening chuckle as the three Jedi labored to catch their breath. He had been toying with them this whole time and they weren't any closer to defeating him - no, injuring him - than they were in the beginning. This creature along halted their advance as the without the them pushing, the Clones were forced to take cover and hold. The fortress unleashed thousands of more Droids, much to the Jedi's chagrin. However, before the cyborg could do anything further, he stopped as his communicator started to flash.

"Urgh…" The cyborg said in annoyance as it pressed the button and turned around, deactivated his sabers, reconnected his arms and grabbed his cloak.

"Be grateful that I am sparing your lives, Jedi." The cyborg stated as he withdrew, but one could tell the fact that he hated having to leave the scene without killing any of the three battered Jedi Masters, despite him having wounded them many times. That was his strategy. To use fear and wage a physiological war within their minds in-order to force them into making mistakes. The Jedi considered themselves lucky as the cyborg retreated into the fortress, but they weren't done yet. The Droids were still coming, thankfully, the AT-TE's had pushed up far enough to suppress the firing positions located within the fortress, giving the Jedi's and the Clones enough time to push forward.

"Incoming!" Bly shouted, pointing at the sky as Republic bombers dropped a massive amount of ordinance on the Droid forces ahead of them, wiping out the bulk of their vanguard. However, they were forced to turn away as Vulture droids swarmed in, shooting several of the sluggish bombers down.

"Now's our chance!" Depa called out to her fellow Jedi as they nodded and headed straight for the Separatist's position, the Clones following quickly after them. While the brought down the doors leading into the stronghold, AT-TE's started to go around the fortress and started to engage what little number of Droids remained on the other side of the fortress. After a few more minutes of fighting, the had finally captured it, but at a heavy price.

"We lost most of our walkers, nearly 39 percent of our original strength…" Piell trailed off as he sighed. That cyborg was enough to halt their advance and thus causing them so many lives. They would have been dead too if the cyborg hadn't retreated.

"We can't rest now. We have two more objectives to complete." Aayla said as she walked up to the top of the fortress, looking across the long path to the factories.

"The factories, along with the mining facilities below must be destroyed. If they keep spitting out droids, this battle will never end." Aayla stated, point right at it as the other's nodded.

"Then there's the Separatist Headquarters located within the area. I supposed that I'll take care of that." Depa said, assigning herself to take out the HQ. The others nodded as Aayla turned to look at the factories once again.

"And I'll take the factories." She said, picking her objective.

"Which one of you will need my assistance then?" Piell questioned, chuckling a bit. The other two smiled at the joke. These were the few times over the course of the battle they laughed.

"Actually, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind handling the Separatist convoys." Aayla questioned as Piell raised an eyebrow before he nodding in understanding. She meant that with their starfleet routed and their ground forces on their back foot, the Separatist were no doubt going to evacuate the planet, taking as many resources, weapons, and riches with them as they could.

"Very well. I'll meet with my Knights and prepare an ambush once I receive word" He accepted as Aayla thanked him. The Republic force divided into their respective Corps. The 10th Army quickly split up and moved towards their objectives, with Depa taking most of their walkers. Aayla was left with two walkers and her 327th Star Corps. As she took in Master Piell's words she sighed, a bit glad that the Knights under her command were on other fields of battle. If they had been here, then she feared the some of them would died at the hands of that cyborg.

"General, do you really think we can take that out?" Bly's question snapped Aayla out of her trance as the 327th marched onwards, heading straight towards the factories. Aayla hummed as she pointed towards the perimeter of the production facilities.

"The Droids have heavy artillery positions near the factories. If we can capture those cannons, we should be able to turn them around and shell the whole complex, turning the entire area into one big pile of scrap." Bly nodded. A sound plan, but they would have to find away to the artillery positions first. It was then he heard the familiar sound of artillery fire. Bly briefly panicked that they had been spotted before he noticed the shells impact far away.

 _"Aayla, the Separatists are shelling my walkers. Can you take out that artillery?"_ Depa's voice rang through the transmitter.

"We'll take care of it." Aayla responded with an ironic grin as Depa thanked her. Turing to her Clone Commander, she pointed to her ear.

"We follow the sound." She answered the unasked questioned. Soon, the 327th changed course, followings the sounds that got closer and louder as they neared the positions.

"Droid regiment! Open fire" A Clone Captain shouted out as a mixed group of Battle Droids emerged from around the corner.

"Blast them!" The lead Droid ordered as they began to open fire. Aayla cursed, but was secretly relieved. This number of Droids here meant that the artillery positions were probably close by.

"Keep pushing!" She yelled as she, along with Bly, charged into the Droids, inspiring others to follow as the two AT-RTs provided support. They would encounter tanks every now and then, but the fact that the Separatists were only using Droids meant that they were getting desperate. The amount of time it took to make a tank was far greater than the time to produce and send out a B1. As they cut through another group of Droids, the artillery positions came into sight.

"Bly, on me!" She called out as Bly nodded. The two pushed past the Droids and into the enemy artillery positions and started to clear them, as they did so, the rest of the Corps finally caught up to them and began to clear the positions with them. It wasn't long before the positions had fallen into Republic hands.

"I want those walkers guarding those paths! Turn these guns turn around and get firing, quickly!" Aayla ordered as the Clones quickly got to work, brining the Separatist guns around.

"General." Bly caught her attention as he offered her a pair of macrobinoculars. She thanked him as she grabbed them and used them to see her target. Her eyes widened slightly. The number of Droids guarding the factor was insane. She was sure that the 327th, along with her, would not survive if they tried to attack the complex head on.

"The artillery is ready General." Bly reported as she nodded before looking back at the massive complex that house the factories and the mining facilities below it.

"Fire." She ordered as the guns began to fire, raining down shell after shell, causing the complex burst into multiple explosions. The highly explosive materials within the massive complex caused many chain reactions, causing a large ball of explosion to erupt from the central building within the complex.

"Keep firing." Aayla ordered. After three weeks of constant battle, and a near death experience at the hands of an unnamed cyborg, her patience had long been worn thin. She was intent on making sure that nothing but rubble remained when she was through with that blasted complex. It had cost them many lives to destroy all those Droid factories, and it had almost costed them their lives.

"Guess that's it for us…" She muttered to Bly as she lowered herself to the ground, watching the ships above as she lay resting. She had done her part for the battle. It was high time she gave her troops some much needed and much deserved R&R.

 _"May the Force be with you."_ She thought as she hoped that Depa and Piell would succeed in their objectives as well.

 **So? Can you all guess who it was that handed the Jedi's their asses? Oh, I think you all know all too well! Leave a like and a review for this chapter, and to Scholar Arcanis and Lord of Steel, you two really should write a fanfiction of your own cause the reviews you leave behind are some of the best damn reviews I have seen for this story! I don't know how you do it, but you're predicting stuff that others cannot! Curse you and your hip ways! Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Until next time, bye!**


	16. Death From Above

**Hello there! How are you all doing?! Look what I have brought for you guys! Yes! A new chapter and wasn't it fast? Lol! This is also by far the largest chapter yet for this story, so I hope you all enjoy to your hearts content. Also, you guys were really mad that Naruto wasn't getting a lot of screen time. Calm down, it would get boring if the fanfiction solo focused on Naruto and not his various commanders and etc. With that out of the way, I have been listing to your reviews and I like to read them, gives me and my Beta writer/reader ideas. With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this chapter, bye!**

 **Bestine IV, Three Days Later**

For weeks the battle for Bestine had raged on down at the surface. With the Droid factories destroyed and their mining operations coming to an end, the Jedi and the Republic were sure that victory was in their grasp. Only, it wasn't going to be an easy one. For two and a half days, Jedi Master Depa Billaba had laid siege to the Separatist Headquarters. It was the only stronghold left that offered a sizable amount of resistance. It also held the master signal to shut down all Droids on the planet.

But even with the shield around their headquarters taken down, the Confederacy was still managing to hold strong against the Republic forces.

"All forces, full retreat!" Depa ordered as she covered the retreat of the 29th Legion as Droid forces steadily began to overwhelm them. She too fell back with the Clones not long after to avoid being riddled with blaster fire. Once they had retreated, the Droids halted their advance and pulled back to their defensive positions. It had been like that since they had laid siege to the HQ. It seemed that the Droid forces, overnight, sudden seemed to be fighting on par with the Clones, luring them into multiple traps and masterful delay tactics to either halt her advance or force her to withdraw each engagement. The 108th Corps was in tatters from just these last two days, having lost about a fifth of its troops.

"General, we're starting to run out of supplies. I just had about a hundred men tell me they're on their last mag. How in the hell are we going to take that blasted HQ?" Marshal Commander Dragon began to voice his doubts. Even after ordering his troopers to cannibalize what ammo and equipment they could from their dead comrades, they were still running dry. He wasn't questioning General Bilaba's leadership or judgment, but he needed to know what the plan was in-order to better use what little resources they had left. Depa sighed as she looked at the holomap of the area surrounding the HQ, which was located at the top of a tall hill.

"There are only two approaches to the HQ. The first is the direct one, offering flat lands and a clear sight towards the HQ." She pointed as Dragon hummed.

"And also one hell of a killzone from what we have experienced." Dragon commented as Depa nodded before pointing to a second approach.

"The second approach is from the rear. It provides heavy cover and might be easier to attack from, but that would mean that our forces would have to travel several miles out of the way to avoid being detected. We do not have the time nor resources to go all the way around. Not to mention that we do not have any information of the area. Honestly, we should have tried such an attack earlier. We've lost our opportunity." She explained as everyone looked at the holomap grimly. Their choices were limited, and they had already suffered heavy casualties just from trying to push through the main route.

"Our communications are also being jammed. We've lost contact with the others and even the fleet above. Our supplies have also stopped coming. I fear that Master Naruto might have failed. He could be dead. Or worse, captured." General Fy-Tor-Ana suggested a grim fate for her General. As a former instructor at the Jedi Temple, she had been quite impressed with Naruto's many accomplishments during the early stages of the war. It was hard for her to believe that Naruto could have failed at a task. But this war had already taken the lives of hundreds of Jedi, and regardless of the stories surrounding him, Naruto was just one more Jedi Knight that could be added to the casualty list at any time.

"Whatever the case may be, we need to take that HQ. Our supplies might be cut, and our communications might be jammed, but we still have orders to take that HQ. We're the 10th Army, victory against all odds is what we are known for." Depa spoke, trying to uplift their spirits. While the war was still young, the battles that the 10th Army fought had all been victories. At Fondor, they managed to save the shipyards and a sinking Venator. At Corellia, they repelled a significant Separatist assault. Many times they found themselves outnumbered by the enemy, even on Bestine the case was no different.

"Then, I guess we better take that HQ, hell or high water, before General Uzumaki arrives." Dragon stated with confidence. He had seen the blond Jedi in action on Corellia and had studied some of his past exploits. If there was one thing he knew, it was that Uzumaki wasn't captured. He had faith in his commanding officer. Knowing General Uzumaki, he had foreseen this entire situation and would probably arrive with a cache of supplies and a fresh Legion of reinforcements any second now.

 **With the 327** **th**

Aayla couldn't stop worrying. She felt as if something bad was bound to happen today. She was in deep thought, meditating atop the AT-TE as the half of the Corps she was directly commanding moved towards Depa's last known location. After destroying the factories and the mining facilities, she had given her troops a day of rest before trying to get in contact with Depa, only to find that the communications were being jammed and worse the supplies had stopped coming. She took some solace seeing battle above was more or less won as only a few holdout enemy frigates remained, at least from what she could see. The Droid Fleet had been broken two days ago, their command quickly shattered and on the brink of total collapse. Yet, there was still something wrong about the whole battle.

 _"Could it be that thing?"_ Aayla questioned herself. Just thinking about the monster she and the other's fought made her shiver. Her fear overwhelming her Jedi training. She had tried to use the Force to defeat the cyborg but found that her fear destroyed her concentration. It baffled her how the cyborg used fear to such a degree to prevent her and her fellow Jedi from using the Force and his ruthless attacks did not help them.

"General, we still can't get in contact with the 108th." Bly reported to her as Aayla sighed. She had ordered Bly to try and make contact, but it had failed, again.

"Then we have no choice but to head for the Separatist HQ. With any luck, we might find Master Bilaba there." Aayla ordered as Bly shook his head.

"With all due respect General, our supplies are stretched pretty thin as is. Not to mention all of our wounded that need medical treatment. An attack on the Separatist HQ would only lead to significantly more casualties." Bly reasoned as Aayla sighed.

"I understand Commander, but we have no other choice. If Master Bilaba is still there fighting the Separatists, then we might stand a chance at defeating the enemy." Aayla countered as Bly sighed. Try as he may, he had no choice but to follow her command.

"Right away." Bly obeyed. While he had disagreed on many things with his Commander, he was proven wrong many times about the situation and the outcome. He hoped that he would be wrong this time as well.

 **Separatist Headquarters**

At the Separatist HQ, the same cyborg could be seen overseeing the battle. He studied the Jedi and their legions movements with extreme depth. These kind of tactics were amateurish attempts to draw his forces out.

"General, the Jedi are retreating once more." A Droid reported as the cyborg kept looking at the holomap.

"Fall back to our positions. We must keep the frontlines as strong as possible and reinforce our defenses. To give chase would mean defeat." The cyborg ordered as the Droid relayed the command to the others. He was no fool. Those brainless tactical droids would immediately give chase at the sight of a retreating enemy. The would only be cut down as they went further away from command. A small group of pursuing Droids was easy picking for the Jedi and their Clones, but a large group behind durasteel walls was far more challenging.

"General, we are receiving a priority transmission from Count Dooku." A Droid reported as the cyborg grunted before turning around and walking up to a holoprojector before he activated it. The hologram of one Count Dooku appeared before the cyborg, who seemed a bit agitated.

 _"General Grievous, I hope the battle is going well?"_ Dooku questioned, hoping that the battle was at least going better than before.

"The Republic's tactics have been quite predictable. However, with the loss of our fleet, the chance for permanent victory remains low." Grievous responded. Even they would run out of supplies and with the planter shield destroyed, it was only a matter of time before the orbital bombardments followed. The only reason there weren't any was because Grievous was jamming all communications.

 _"I am in agreement, General. Admiral Tuuk will be returning soon to lift the blockade."_ Dooku commented as Grievous narrowed his eyes. Tuuk had already failed to hold back the Republic, even when he outnumbered them. He scoffed at the notion that the disgraced Admiral would be able to prevail against the Republic after suffering such a humiliating defeat, but he didn't say anything. He would let the green slime ball have another go at it.

"Is there anything else you need of me?" Grievous questioned as the Count shook his head. At that, Grievous promptly cut the transmission. He had a battle to win.

 **With the Fleet**

The battle above planet had come to an end as the Droid Fleet either retreat or was utterly destroyed. Currently, all of the Admirals and Captains were on-board Olander's flagship, getting chewed out.

"Tarkin, you not only became overconfident, you even sent a Venator to its death. Not only did we lose a valuable ship, you also managed to fall into a trap by pushing too far in!" Olander yelled at Tarkin, who only flinched slightly. The old man was quite tall and had an imposing figure, and the scars on his face certainly didn't help. Olander then turned his sight to the next Captain.

"I can understand Tarkin disobeying orders, but you Captain?" Olander questioned Jess, who looked at him with determination.

"With all due respect Vice-Admiral, your traditional tactics weren't going to win us the battle. I had to do something, and I accept full responsibility for my actions." Jess replied as Olander sighed. One Captain didn't care, the other was willing to accept any all responsibility for her actions, and the Admiral was total ass. It was like dealing with children!

Speaking of the Admiral, Wyle noticed a slight smirk on Ross' face with Jess' last comment. He immediately marched towards him. It was his turn to be chewed out.

"And you! Do not think that just because you got lucky you can get away with disobeying orders! I explicitly ordered you to save Tarkin and fall back! Nothing more. Not push past the enemy Fleet! Because of you, we took far more casualties as the Droid fighters swarmed out started to attack our center from the vacant space your Fleet left behind!" Olander shouted at Ross, who hated to admit that he was right.

While he had calculated everything in front of him, Ross had failed to consider their center line would be exposed. This gave the new Providence-class cruisers the perfect opening to inflect heavy damage onto Olander's fleet. Two Star Destroyers were heavily damaged and one had its hangar blasted wide open. They would both need extensive repairs. Olander could only thank the force that Mar Tuuk didn't notice the opportunity, otherwise the entire battle would have been lost.

"I suggest you hold your tongue, _**Vice**_ Admiral Olander." Ross put a stinging emphasis on his superior rank. "Even if I'm not in General Uzumaki's good graces, your tone is bordering on insuburdination. I am your superior, like it or not."

Wyle was fuming, he was about to open his mouth when the ship's sensor officer interrupted him.

"Sir, we have a incoming ships jumping out of hyperspace!" the officer reported as Olander turned his attention to the view port.

"We will discuss this later, Ross." He commented as he ordered the batteries to ready. Four ships jumped out of hyperspace, and they were Republic. Ross immediately recognized the lead ship due to its custom orange-painted hangar. He quickly ordered all forces to stand down as the single Venator, which seemed damaged, hailed them.

"Open communications channel three!" Olander ordered as a hologram of Naruto appeared. He wasn't in the best condition.

"General?" Olander questioned in confusion. What was Naruto doing here?

 _"Wyle, Ross. Battle formations. We have to ready ourselves."_ Naruto rushed out his words. The others raised an eyebrow at that. Or in Jess' case, fruitlessly trying to raise only one eyebrow, but raising both every time.

"For what? We have the situation under control." Ross questioned. Olander was curious too. The Separatist Fleet was shattered the day was theirs, but alas they had failed to factor in one thing.

 _"The Separatists arrived in droves about two days ago. We were overwhelmed. My forces at Devaron were defeated and I was forced to retreat. I managed to link up with a small Republic outpost before bringing what arms and ammo I could gather there. Our supply lines are now under Separatist control, and now that we're alone I am sure that they are right behind me."_ Naruto explained as Olander cursed under his breath. The enemies' determination to keep Bestine had not been factored in. A few of their Star Destroyers were a liability at this point and the Separatists most likely mustered another Fleet of similar size to the one before.

 _"These are no pirates."_ Ross reminded himself. This was the difference between pirates and a proper military. Pirates were easy to break and defeat, and they would leave everything behind if it meant avoiding capture. A proper military, however, could take a defeat and still comeback with sufficient numbers to achieve a victory.

"Then we need to act fast. We have all lost communication with our ground forces, but they surely need all the help they can get." Olander stated as Naruto agreed with the aged Admiral.

"Do you know who was commanding the Separatist Fleet?" Ross suddenly questioned as Naruto frowned.

 _"At first I had no clue, but the battle quickly took a turn for the worse, and the enemy Admiral offered me a chance to surrender to him."_ Naruto started, his thoughts going back to the battle he had managed to escape from.

 **Devaron, Two Days Ago**

Naruto stood on the bridge of his flagship, looking out towards the vast expanse of space. It seemed endless, and it made him feel insignificant as he was but a mortal. His thoughts slowly drifted to his childhood. He had come a long way from the scrawny little kid who everyone hated. He was now a leader, a Jedi, a warrior who fought for justice and peace. Yet, it seemed like he had failed to keep the peace with the war being sufficient enough evidence against him.

 _"What if things were different…"_ He thought to himself, wondering if he would have been able to stop the war before it had begun. Wondering what his life would have been like if Master Yoda never found him. He's probably be at least a Jonin by now, leading his own team.

"Sir?" He was broken out of his thoughts by King, who had a datapad in his hands. Shaking his hand, he smiled.

"Anything?" Naruto questioned King who shook his head.

"Nothing, our scans haven't found any Droid warships in the vicinity." King reported as Naruto hummed. Odd, a few days ago he had been engaging pretty regularly with some Droid raiding groups trying to keep supplies from passing to Bestine. However, the raids had ceased yesterday, but he hadn't heard anything from high command reporting the surrender of Bestine. Something was not right.

"I want our turbolaser batteries primed and our shields up. Tell the Fleet to be at battle ready." Naruto ordered an Officer to the side, who saluted him before heading back to his post. Naruto turned his attention back to the space before him with narrowed eyes. The Separatist were getting ready for something big, and he feared that his small Fleet of three Venators would not withstand what was to come.

"Separatist ships jumping out of hyperspace!" An Officer shouted out from his position as multiply Separatists vessels dropped out of Hyperspace very close to his Fleet. The Separatist Fleet comprised of a single Lucrehulk, a dozen Banking Clan Munificent-Frigates, a handful of Recusant-class destroyers and a group of new cruiser-class vessels that looked like Quarren design. Naruto scowled at the development. There was no way he was going to be able to take on a fleet of this size.

"Open fire immediately! Keep them at a distance while we bring our ships around!" Naruto shouted while ordering a jump to the closest Republic outpost. However, as the ships started to turn, they jerked.

"We're caught in their tractor beams!" A Clone deck officer shouted as Naruto cursed his luck. The Droid's were combining their tractor beams to keep him in position. The batteries began to focus fire on the Munificent-class frigates and had quickly torn one to ribbons. They were the easiest to destroy and thus would allow them to retreat. However, the Separatist Admiral was no fool. In a shocking move, the Separatist Fleet began pulling the three Venators away from each other, reducing their ability to concentrate firepower.

"Blast!" Naruto shouted as he watched helplessly as his Star Destroyers were surrounded. His own flagship was under heavy fire.

"Get me in contact with Siri!" Naruto shouted out. Her fleet at Fresia should be close enough to assist in time. However, the officer shook his head.

"No use, sir! They are blocking our long range communications!" The officer replied as Naruto sighed. He needed to do something quickly.

 _ **Procurer**_

Mar Tuuk observed the battled with the patience of a rock. Just yesterday, he had suffered a defeat at the hands of the Republic, losing control of the space around Bestine. Today, he was about to make the Republic's victory moot. He would not give up such an important Separatist system so easily. He had quickly rallied his Fleet once more, recalling the raiding fleets that had.

This time, he was not going to simply overwhelm the Republic with superior numbers and tactics. He would break the backbone of the Republic, attacking the Republic Fleet stationed at Devaron, followed by an attack on the supply outpost at the Kelada system. These attacks would cut the Republic's supply line along the Corellian spine and give the Confederacy opportunities to intercept their communications, thus allowing him to eliminate the Republic forces on Bestine given the fact that they would be isolated.

"Get me in contact with Uzumaki's ship." Tuuk ordered. He had quickly identified Naruto's flagship and had isolated it. He wanted to meet the young Jedi Knight himself.

 _ **Fire's Shadow**_

"Sir, the Droid command ship is hailing us." a Clone reported as Naruto frowned, what did the enemy want from him?

"Patch it though." Naruto responded as the communications officer nodded before he pressed a few buttons on the large circular table before the hologram of Mar Tuuk appeared.

 _"So you are the Jedi Knight, Naruto Uzumaki."_ Mar started as Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"What of it?" Naruto questioned as he hand signaled to his comrades to scramble all bombers.

 _"You've presented a unique challenge to me. I have read up on everything about you. From your participation in the Mandalorian Civil War to the overthrow of Pantora Parliament. Not to mention your contributions during the first battle of the war."_ Mar stated as Naruto raised his eyebrow. The Separatist Admiral seemed to know quite a bit about him.

"Good to know, but who are you?" Naruto questioned, trying to keep the conversation going on as long as possible to give his forces a chance to counter attack.

 _"My name is Mar Tuuk, Admiral of the Separatist Alliance."_ Mar introduced himself with a slight smirk as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Weren't you supposed to be defending Bestine?" Naruto questioned as Mar frowned at that, controlling his anger.

 _"I was, but your subordinates live up to your reknown. However, I shall deal with them once I have dealt with you. This is your only chance to surrender, General Uzumaki."_ Mar stated as Naruto smirked slightly.

"Yeah, that's not happening. Release torpedos!" Naruto ordered as bombers suddenly blitzed out of the hangar now that the new Separatist cruisers were close enough, unleashing a barrage of proton torpedoes. One of them was destroyed outright, but most of them were only slightly damaged, but it was enough for the tractor beams to be disabled, breaking their hold on his Star Destroyers.

"Jump, now!" Naruto shouted as the Venators quickly turned and made the jump to the outpost. As they did so, Naruto sighed. Mar Tuuk was no ordinary Separatist Admiral. Sure the man liked his monologues, but the strategy he described revolved around divide and conquer, rather than simply overwhelming him with his superior numbers. His tactics were well picked as the Droid Fleets naturally consisted mostly of Frigates that were fast and well-armed. He had to get to Bestine as soon as possible to warn them of the incoming assault.

 **Flashback End**

 _"Once I arrived at the outpost, most of the Fleet was heavily damaged, even my flagship needed repairs. I went to the nearest Republic outpost and ordered the rest of my Fleet to withdraw into Republic space."_ Naruto stated as the other's grimaced at this new development. It seemed that Mar hadn't given up just yet.

"You shouldn't have withdrawn your Fleet." Ross commented as Naruto resisted the urge to groan.

 _"And why shouldn't I have?"_ Naruto questioned, though he knew he wasn't going to like the answer. Ross took a thinking stance at that, a strategy in his mind quickly formed up.

"We could have used your ships as decoys to lure part, or hopefully parts, of the Separatist fleet into a trap. That way, the enemy focuses on our weaker forces, while most of our strength remains intact." Ross answered. A damaged Venator would have presented a delightful target to the Separatist as they were expensive warships. It was one of the paths to victory was Ross as it meant minimal loses to the main task force at the expense of a few ships and their crew. However, it was clear that Naruto did not like the idea that Ross put forth.

 _"I will not throw away lives just to win a battle needlessly. We will win this battle, with or without my Fleet."_ Naruto reprimanded Ross, who could care less about Naruto's lectures regarding morality. Naruto sighed at his Admirals reaction.

 _"In any case, I have brought all the supplies I could, along with master's Mundi and Shaak Ti, who thankfully happened to be there. We also managed to rally a Clone Legion from Master Mundi's 21st Nova Corps. Bestine must fall today, or we have to retreat."_ Naruto stated. This was it, do or die. There would be no reinforcements, no supplies, nothing. Either they took Bestine right here and now or they pack and withdraw in a humiliating defeat.

"We'll take care of the Separatist Fleet, General." Olander stated, confident that they would hold. They defeated Mar Tuuk once, they would do it again. Naruto nodded as he cut the transmission, he had to make his way down to the planet to reinforce the ground forces.

"I'm glad you aren't in-charge of ground operations." Jess commented, pointing at Ross, who narrowed his eyes.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ross questioned, leveling a glare at Jess, who sent her own glare at the man.

"If you were in-charge, there would be massive casualties." Jess responded, not backing down. Tarkin and Olander simply watched the stand-off, though Olander thought that she was right while Tarkin mentally rolled his eyes. This woman, practically still a child by his standards, didn't know the importance of victory.

"If I was in charge, this battle would have been won weeks ago. My strategies and tactics are based on logic, experience, intelligence, and quickest route to victory." Ross stated as Jess scoffed.

"Sometimes the quickest way path to victory isn't always the best. Remember this, for everything gained, there is something lost. If you were in-charge, we would be seeing mutinies left and right. Why the General keeps you around is beyond me." Jess finished as she left the bridge, heading back to her flagship. She understood that they were in a war and that they would lose troops, but that did not mean she was willing to send him to their death for a victory like Ross would.

"She's a fool to believe that." Tarkin commented as he too began to leave, followed by Ross, who wasn't pleased by the conversation he just had. What did she know about war? She had a simple and undemanding life at Coruscant in-charge of a small ship. Ross had been fighting pirates for a very long time.

"These youngsters will be the death of me…" Olander said with a sigh. Truly, he was almost dealing with children, not military officers. Shaking his head, he turned to one of the Officers.

"I want our scanners set to full power. Have our defense line disperse. With any luck, we can lure the enemy ships into the gaps and wipe them out." Olander ordered as the Officer nodded before he headed to his stations. Olander turned his attention to the bridge. He knew that the odds of that strategy working were quite low as it was similar to Tuuk's.

 **With Naruto**

Naruto observed the battle below him and frowned. Depa's forces had tried and gained little successes at taking the HQ. He couldn't blame her as the Separatists had really built their HQ in a favorable condition. Now it was up to him to aid her at taking the HQ.

"So, what's the plan?" Mundi questioned as he looked at the holographic lay out of the battlefield and the HQ in the middle. Around the table were Shaak Ti and King, both thinking of ways to aid their fellow Jedi's and Clones.

"Sending our forces down to Depa's location wouldn't help as they are already bogged down by the Droid defenses." Shaak Ti commented as everyone nodded. The LZ would have been a killing zone should they try that approach.

"What about the rear?" King pointed out towards the steep rocky path on the other side. Mundi shook his head.

"Traversing that terrain on foot will take too long. We can't land close enough. On that terrain and with those anti-air emplacements, we would be shot down before the second gunship deployed its troops. Depa's forces are already stretched to their breaking point. We need to act fast." Mundi stated. They needed to attack, and they needed to attack fast. Shaak Ti noticed that Naruto was quite as he looked at the map.

"What do you think we should do, Naruto?" Shaak Ti questioned as Naruto hummed before he pressed a few buttons.

"We have jetpacks, right?" Naruto questioned King, who looked confused by that questioned.

"Uhm, yes? I do believe we have a few." King answered as Naruto nodded.

"Good. Then gather your best men and have them suit up." Naruto ordered as King got even more confused, just what was Naruto thinking?

"Sir, what is the plan?" King questioned Naruto. Why did he want jetpacks to be issued out? It didn't make any sense.

"I know this might sound crazy…" Naruto started as he positioned the holographic image of his Venator above the HQ.

"But, what if we paradropped from above the HQ?" Naruto questioned as the others were bewildered by the suggestion.

"Well, it certainly would be the fastest method…" Mundi stated.

"And the enemy HQ is undefended from above…" Shaak Ti added as she smiled. Naruto truly was unpredictable.

"And we can use some of the lartys we got to provide support." King commented as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, sounds good. Have the crews prep their gunships." King saluted him and left to follow his orders. Naruto continued the rest of the plan. "The initial phase calls for paradropping onto the HQ and shutting down any anti-air systems for the gunships to provide us with more manpower. That will in-turn cause chaos at the HQ, chaos we can use to land troops around the HQ at close proximity and even behind their lines. This way we can quickly relive Master Depa's forces." Naruto finished explaining his plan as everyone nodded.

"Then it is settled?" Mundi questioned as everyone nodded. King quickly left to gather some of the best troopers they had and headed down the lower hanger of the Venator. Naruto, Mundi and Shaak Ti headed to the large hanger where the gunships were located.

 **With King**

King had gathered an entire battalion of Clones, each were the best that he could find. They had been equipped with jetpacks that would facilitate with their assault on the enemy HQ.

"Wonder why the Commander called us here." One of the Clones questioned his brother, who shrugged. They were simply told to gather their gear, along with the jetpacks, and assemble in the lower hanger.

"Listen up! As you know, our brothers below on the planet are being fighting for days and are low on supplies of every kind! We are to aid them by assaulting the enemy HQ!" King announced as everyone looked confused at that. If they were gonna assault the HQ, then didn't they need gunships? King saw their confusion before he chuckled slightly, this was gonna be interesting.

"Our job is to attack the enemy HQ...from above." King stated as the hangar opened up behind him as the Clones looked at him as if he had gone mad.

"That is suicide…" One of the Clone Captains muttered

"Whose genius plan was this?!" Another shouted out in either fear or excitement; King couldn't tell.

However, King quickly explained them that the jetpacks would help them land safely. He then explained their objectives. Take the roof of the HQ, shut down all AA emplacements and cause havoc among the Droid forces.

"Any questions?" King questioned the Clones. All of them raised their hands before king smirked before he turned and walked up to the edge of the hanger.

"Good, now go!" He ordered as he leapt off the edge as the Clones' looked in disbelief before they all quickly ran off the hangar's edge. Yeah, they definitely signed up for this.

But then King remembered they didn't sign up for anything... they were Clones bred for the sole purpose of war.

 **Separatist HQ**

The Separatists were still holding out well, resisting all of Depa's assaults. These attacks had gained some land, but at the cost of heavy loses. Grievous, however, was getting annoyed. A few hours ago, the Count had contacted him again and had ordered him to withdraw from the planet. Apparently, the plan had changed. Mar Tuuk was ordered to open up a path for the retreating Separatists forces from Bestine as Grievous was a valuable asset, they could not allow him to fall or be captured by the reinforcements.

"Ready the transports." Grievous ordered as he turned to leave. Best to get out while he still could as he had spotted several Clone jet troopers approaching the HQ from above. His anti-air wasn't suited for small fast moving targets like that, and he had no doubt that those clones would throw open the front gates.

Bestine had been lost. He had failed. But how, exactly, did Dooku predict this outcome?

 **With Depa**

Depa felt a tremendous weight lift from her shoulders after she saw a Star Destroyer positioning itself over the Separatist HQ, and from the odd-colored markings she knew who that Venator belonged to.

"Looks like Naruto is here." General K'Kruhk stated before he turned to Depa who nodded in confirmation. Dragon almost lit up when he realized one of the greatest heroes of the Republic had arrived.

"This is our chance! With Naruto here, we can turn the tide of this battle! Charge!" Depa shouted, her saber in hand as she and the Clones vaulted over their cover, charging straight into the confused Droids.

 **With Aayla**

"Is that General Uzumaki's flagship?" Bly questioned as they neared the battlefield. Aayla looked up and smiled.

"Yes. We must move quickly. Knowing him, he's probably got an insane plan." She responded as Bly nodded before ordering the men to double time it. The AT-TE quickened its pace as the Clones started to sprint to the battlefield. They could hear the sound of blaster fire getting closer and closer. It took them a good ten minutes, but they finally reached Depa's rear guard. Aayla quickly leafpt off the AT-TE and joined the Clones.

"Commander, issue out medical supplies to the wounded here. Once your done, head up to the frontlines." She ordered Bly who nodded. Their medical supplies were almost depleted, but they would have enough to prevent the wounded from dying. With that, Aayla quickly ran off to towards the frontlines, passing by some Clones along the way. It wasn't long before she reached the fighting. Activating her saber, she charged right into a line of Droids as the Clones fought on her flank.

"About time!" Depa commented as she cut another Droid down before using the Force and pushing back a dozen of them into one another.

"Sorry, but we didn't know your status or current position. We had to use our eyes." Aayla responded as she deflected some Blaster fire before cutting into a squad of Super Battle Droids. The two kept on fighting and pushing as Republic gunships began to swarm and land Clones behind the Droid lines.

"Is that Naruto?" Depa questioned as she spotted a mop of blond hair charge out of one of the gunships. She also spotted Master Mundi and Shaak Ti as well.

"So it would seem." Aayla answered as she focused on pushing through the Droid forces.

Aayla didn't know how many droids she had cut down in her advance, but apparently it was enough to reach Naruto and his group.

" _ **You**_ are late." Aayla briefly gestured towards Naruto with her saber as she quickly turned around to deflect blaster fire back at two B2s that had gotten uncomfortably close as Naruto too was forced to turn around to deflect fire from some Droidekas. The two were now practically fighting back to back.

"Yeah, well, I try." Naruto responded as he used the Force and pulled the Droidekas towards him at great speed as he and Aayla ducked, causing the Droidekas to smash into the line of Droids that were firing at Aayla.

"Thanks for that." She thanked him as Naruto chuckled.

"You can thank me later by letting me buy you a drink once we get back to the Temple." Naruto said as Aayla giggled at that. He was different then most Jedi. Not to uptight nor was he too lazy. He was a balance, a mix of both she supposed.

"Then we best finish up this battle quickly." Aayla stated as Naruto nodded, the two focusing the battle at hand once more. The Droids still had a slight numbers advantage, but thanks to air support and reinforcements, it would soon erode away as more and more Clones were being dropped off by the gunships as the wounded were taking back to the Venator.

 **With Even Piell**

Master Piell had tasked himself with stopping the retreat of any and all Separatist convoys who, from what he could gather, were retreating with confederate officials and whatever supplies and valuable raw materials they could get their hands on. The Jedi Master frowned at that. It wasn't enough that the Republic would have to crackdown on the planet, but the Separatist looting? That was a whole new low.

"Well, that's another convoy down." Jedi Knight Tarr Seirr commented as he wiped away the non-existent dust of his hands. A few hours ago, they had ambushed one of the Separatists convoys carrying some non-essential personnel of the Separatist Alliance, mostly low ranking officers. They had managed to halt the nearly every convoy and secured the valuables of from them, along with taking whatever prisoners they could. They might not know much, but they might know some information regarding Separatist positions in nearby systems, and enough of them might at least make a decent trade for any Republic POWs.

"You shouldn't take this so lightly." Master Daakman Barrek stated as he walked up to the Jedi Knight, his Padawan Sha'a Gi following right behind him. The three were Jedi Generals of the 99th Corps, aiding Master Piell in his task of ensuring that the Separatists didn't make it off planet.

"Sir, the scouts just spotted another convoy, it's the biggest one yet." Nickname reported to Piell who called back in acknowledgement.

"Good, get us the coordinates and a projection of its path as soon as possible. Let's get moving. Now that Naruto is here, they're probably going to be in a rush to evacuate." Piell ordered as he, along with the three Jedi and the Clones started to move out, intent on stopping the convoy. The scouts were quick to send the coordinates and they quickly arrived at a new position, right in the convoys path.

"I spot at least a dozen AAT-1s, and a lot of CIS transports." Commander Nickname called out the targets. Piell hummed as he looked at the advancing convoy, which was travelling in a shallow ravine to try and avoid detection. This was probably an important shipment.

"Nickname, take your men and ready an ambush along each side of the path. The rocky formations should provide enough cover and concealment for your men. Deal with the AAT's first. We'll deal with the close quarters." Piell ordered as Nickname nodded. They only had a regiment worth of Clones as the Legion was divided up in to hunting down other convoys. They quickly assumed their positions, waiting for their Generals signal.

"We should attack now." Sha'a Gi was itching for a fight, but Master Barrek shook his head at that.

"Patience, young Padawan. We attack when Master Piell says so. Trust in his wisdom." Barrek said as Sha'a nodded. He just wanted this battle to be over and done with. Piell watched as the Tanks were just pass the hidden Clones.

"Fire!" Piell ordered as the Clones opened fire, destroying several tanks in the surprise attack, this brought the convoy to a halt as the wrecked AAT's blocked their path. Then the Clones began to attack the rear and blocked the Separatist convoys path of escape. There was no escape now.

"Forward!" Piell shouted as he charged forward, the other following right next to him as they divided into the Droids. However, as Piell and his forces fought on, he noticed that they were losing troops fast. How was that possible? That's when he heard that same mechanical laugh that haunted him a few days ago.

 _"No…"_ Piell gulped as he turned to see the same cyborg, walking towards him with two lightsabers activated.

"We meet again, Jedi. I'm glad to see you brought me more game to hunt." Grievous said with laughter as he. Piell immediately reached for his belt and activated his distress beacon. This cyborg was capable of going toe-to-toe with three experienced Jedi Masters. He would need all the backup he could for this. Steeling himself, Piell and Barrek charged at Grievous, intent on striking down the dangerous enemy.

 **Back with Naruto**

The Separatist HQ had all but fallen to the Republic forces as all that remained was clearing up the last of the Droid forces that had hunkered down at the command center within the HQ. After they had secured the area around the HQ, they began to push into the HQ itself. While they worked their way up, King and his group push from the top down.

"Go! _**Go**_!" Naruto shouted as he and Captain Heavy covered the charge into the heavily defended command center. The turrets above were raining down hellfire, making it difficult for more troops to enter. That was when Heavy was suddenly scooped up by a Clone jet trooper.

" _ **Woooaaahhh!**_ What the hell?! What are you doing, you _**lunatic**_?" Heavy screamed out. Despite his size, he wasn't exactly a fan of heights.

"What am I doing? More like what _**aren't**_ you doing, moron? Open fire on those turrets and get ready for a wild ride!" the 11th Company Captain, CT-3330, shouted back. Heavy could only smirk as he lifted his minigun and riddled the turret emplacements with a barrage of blaster bolts. 3330 circled quickly around the building, giving Heavy the opportunity to destroy all of the turrets before they could even be lifted up to fire back. Naruto took advantage at the opportunity, and the rest of the Legion to make their way inside.

With the command center under their control, the Republic gave out the shut down signal to all Droids on planet.

"That should take care of them." Mundi commented as he stared out at the battlefield below. Seems like the Separatists had quite the visual advantage during the battlefield. Depa however did not seemed pleased.

"Something is wrong. Before you came, the Droids were performing better. Their strategies and tactics were strong. However, they just…fell apart after you arrived…" She voiced her concerns as Naruto frowned.

"Do you think it's was the work of that cyborg you guys were talking about?" Naruto questioned Aayla and Depa. The two shared and look before nodding.

"It's possible. He was pretty skilled and managed to hold back Depa and I, along with Master Piell all at once." Aayla answered as Naruto hummed. This was disturbing news. For someone to stand up against three Jedi master's and win was unheard of in a very long time.

"I'm sure we will find a way to deal with it when we report our findings." Shaak Ti spoke up as the rest nodded. For now, there was still much to do as Master Piell had yet to contact them.

"Sir, the Separatists are still jamming our communications. I can get the jamming single down, but it'll take some time." King informed Naruto, who nodded in turn. If there was one place the Separatist jamming single was coming from, it was the HQ they had just captured.

"So, what happened to you?" Aayla questioned Naruto, who sighed. He began to explain his defeat at the hands of Mar Tuuk and his retreat. The more he explained to them the situation, the more they realized how critical it was for them to take Bestine today at all cost. The fact that the Separatists were gathering a large force to retake the space around the planet proved how valuable the system was. However, as they talked amongst one another, a beeping sound started to go off on Depa's and Aayla's communicators. They quickly checked to see that it was a distress beacon from Master Piell.

"This can't be good." Aayla said. The distress become had been active for quite a while, but the jamming single had prevented it from being heard. All they had were some coordinates.

"Aayla, K'Kruhk, I'll need you to come with me to aid Master Piell. Depa you and your forces deal with the Separatist military personals and the securing this area." Naruto ordered.

"Hold on, we're coming too." Shaak Ti called out. Naruto turned back to see her and Master Mundi following him. He nodded in agreement and rushed off in a chakra-enhanced sprint to prep the gunship. Time was of the essence.

 **In Orbit**

"Sir, we have enemy ships jumping out of Hyperspace!" An officer shouted to Ross, who hummed, wanting to see just what the enemy brought, and they brought a pretty decent size Fleet. They had almost three dozen frigates and destroyers, a few of those newer ships and at the center of it all was Mar Tuuk's Lucrehulk flagship.

"Divert power from the engines to the forward shield. Have all non-essential power diverted to the batteries." Ross ordered. It was best to keep the enemy at range as the Separatists ships up close would overwhelm them. He noticed that Olander had deployed his fighters, but was holding his bombers in reserves, waiting for the enemy to come a bit closer. Tarkin was adopting a more defensive approach then anyone else, considering his failure in the first battle. Jess however was on the far end of the right flank, her Fleet in position to strike the Separatist Fleet from the rear should they advance too far in.

"Everything's set…" Ross muttered. Olander's lose formation was a ruse to pull the enemy in, as to destroy them, and with him keeping them at bay with long range fire, the Separatists would be having a hard time retaking this planet today.

 **With Mar Tuuk**

Mar Tuuk wasn't in a good mood. He had initially set out to retake the space around Bestine and had gone to great lengths to pool all of his resources into forming a formidable Fleet. However, that was not to be. The Count had ordered him to change his objective. Rather then retake the space around Bestine, he was ordered to make a path for the retreat Separatist forces from the planet below. Now, it was still a battle, but it meant that he would have to withdraw once his objective was completed. He would not get the satisfaction in defeating the enemy.

"Have the Fleet assume wedge formation. I want a Providence-cruiser for every six Frigates. Have all Recusant destroyers assume position on our flanks." Mar Tuuk ordered. Currently, the Republic forces were more or less in a loose line formation in front of him. He chuckled at that. They were trying to mimic his strategy, but in the end actually helped his plans.

"Their loose formation should be easy enough for the wedge to break through." Mar said to himself as he stroked his chin. He had four Frigates on stand-by in a nearby system. This time he would not let the enemy get to his rear guard.

"All ships are in position sir." A Battle Droid reported as Mar smirked.

"Full speed ahead, break the Republic's line!" He ordered as his Fleet began to move. He had withheld most of his fighter and bomber units, a trick he learned from the Republic during the first battle. This time he would not fail.

 **With Naruto**

The group quickly made it to Masters Piell's position and what they found was a scene of carnage. It seemed like the entire Clone regiment that went with Piell was dead, save for Nickname who was barely alive. The four Jedi quickly pushed past the rubble and carnage as they heard the sound of lightsabers clashing. Arriving, they were horrified to find Master Piell on the ground, clinging on to his life with a saber wound to his side. They turned to face the saber duel between the cyborg and Tarr Seirr, who was losing badly against the mechanical creature. Master Barrek had been bisected, and his apprentice Sha'a Gi had lost his entire arm.

 _"He didn't even cut the arm!"_ Aayla thought in shock. Sha'a Gi's arm wasn't cut by a lightsaber, no, it was torn off! The Padawan was most likely dead, judging by the sheer amount of blood pooled around him.

"Come on!" Naruto shouted, his saber in his had as the five jedi charged at Grievous, intent of bringing the beast down. Seeing the new threats, Grievous quickly used his clawed feet and grabbed Tarr's face before brutally crushing it into the ground. He then threw the corpse at K'Kruhk, knocking the Jedi back into some rubble as Naruto, Mundi, Aayla and Shaak Ti engaged Grievous, who laughed as he blocked all their strikes. Grievous dodged a strike aimed for his hand by Aayla and quickly pushed the opening to kick her back into the same pile of rubble, just in time as K'Kruhk charged in, taking Aayla's place.

"What pile of scrap did Dooku pull you out of?" Naruto questioned as he kept up his strikes against the cyborg, but the said creature was easily able to withstand them all. Grievous turned his attention to Naruto, finding the translucent blade he possessed to be quite interesting.

"Your lightsaber will make a wonderful addition to my collection!" Grievous proclaimed as he pressed the offensive, easily starting to push the Jedi's back.

 _"This is insane! His strikes are coming in too fast...and that power!"_ Mundi thought as he tried to defend against the overwhelming power. K'Kruhk was the first to make a mistake as he was unable to keep up against the onslaught, resulting in a saber strike right though his heart. The others' eyes widened at that, but they weren't given a chance to even react as Grievous grabbed the dying Jedi and threw him at Aayla, who was just getting up. She was once again thrown back into rubble as she was bleeding from the head and had contusions all along her arms and legs. She was alive and breathing, but badly wounded.

"I have to say, I am disappointed in you, Jedi. You call yourselves Masters, but you can't even beat one man." Grievous said with a chuckle. If this was as strong as Jedi got, then it would be ease killing them all. The remaining three Jedi narrowed their eyes as Grievous spun his four lightsabers at great speed. Naruto quickly reached his hand out, intent on using the Force to defeat this enemy, but Grievous quickly leapt at him, not even giving him a chance. Naruto once again found himself on the defensive as he was barely able to deflect all the strikes.

Shaak Ti and Mundi tried to help him, but Grievous started to use his one hand to duel Mundi, while he used two to keep the onslaught on against Naruto. He used his third hand to quickly disarm Shaak Ti, who was surprised at how helpless they were against the cyborg. He then quickly grabbed her and threw her towards one of the destroyed transports.

Shaak Ti collided with the transport head first, quickly getting a concussion from the impact before Grievous threw a thermal detonator at the transport. The detonator exploded and the resulting debris fell onto to Shaak Ti, knocking her out. Aayla tried to get back up to aid Mundi and Naruto, but it was impossible. Her legs refused to work. The fear of facing the cyborg again was just too much. The bleeding from her head didn't help either. As she forced herself to stand, her vision blurred and she soon faded into unconsciousness.

" _Dammit!"_ Naruto grunted as he tried to find an opening, but he was having a hard time.

" **Use my power, boy. Even you can tell you're no match for him."** He heard Kurama call out to him. The Nine Tails hadn't spoken to him in a while, but that didn't matter right now.

" _Like hell I'll resort to that! Now stop distracting me, you stupid fox!"_ Naruto responded as he finally found an opening and quickly maneuvered and managed to cut one of Grievous' hands off. Grievous didn't like that one bit. He grabbed Mundi by the wrist and threw him aside, focusing all of his attention of Naruto. Grievous attack became to vicious as Naruto's saber was knocked out of his hand and cut in half thanks to Grievous.

"Urgh…" Grievous paused for a second. He really wanted that for his collection. However, in his moment of lament, Naruto took the opportunity and focused some Chakra in his left hand.

"That was a gift, you _**asshole!**_ " Naruto shouted as he laid into Grievous with a Chakra-enhanced punch. His fist landed right on Grievous chest armor, causing the cyborg to be knocked onto the ground, a fresh dent in his exosekeletal armor. Naruto, however, felt the pain of three freshly broken fingers.

" **Hahahaha! Nice plan, you fool!"** The Kyuubi mocked as Naruto grit his teeth to take his mind off the pain. That armor was strong, very strong. A Chakra-infused fist was only able to put a small dent, but then again, he wasn't exactly an expert at it. Grievous flipped back to his feet, the claws tearing deep into Naruto's chest. He screamed in pain as blood began pouring heavily from the wounds. Grievous went on attack again with his three arms. Naruto reflexively dodged the first two saber strikes, and the third was blocked just in time by a intensely scowling Ki Adi Mundi. Grievous turned his full attention onto the remaining threat.

Thinking quickly, he spotted Aayla's lightsaber and pulled it towards him. She wouldn't be needing it anytime soon. He activated the blue blade and surprised Grievous with another literal disarming. Grievous snarled and pushed Naruto as hard as he could into the rocky walls of the ravine, before putting some distance between the two of them. Suddenly, the transmitter on Grievous began to beep as Grievous groaned in annoyance before he turned and fled. Mundi was going to give chase but was stopped by Naruto.

"We must pursue! This is our chance to finish him off!" Mundi shouted in anger, but Naruto shook his head, feeling a bit lightheaded due what he could only assume was due to a major concussion, or blood loss.

"Shaak Ti and Aayla need medical treatment quickly, and Master Piell needs it immediately. If we give chase now the others will die." Naruto reasoned with Mundi, who took a deep breath and calmed himself before he began to assess the situation. Naruto was right. They were in no position to give chase and they had already lost five Jedi, losing more would be pointless and unnecessary.

 **Above Planet with Ross**

 _"What the hell?!"_ Ross thought as he was baffled by what was happening. He had thought that Mar Tuuk would use a standard approach, sending fighters and bombers, followed by Frigates closing in with heavier ships in the rear, but no! Mar had attacked them using a wedge approach, dividing the Republic Fleet into two, creating an opening towards the planet for the Separatist forces. The lose formation Olander had set completely backfired and Jess counter attack had failed as four Frigates had jumped out of Hyperspace to prevent her from attacking the rear guard.

 _"He waited to deploy his fighters and bombers the last second and focused on the center…"_ Ross thought as he gripped the data pad in his hand tightly. This is not how the battle was supposed to go!

"Reroute power to the side deflectors! I want the point-defense systems at full power! Make sure nothing gets through!" Ross ordered as the Officers did their job. However, this unexpected move from Mar was something he did not expect.

 _"Another difference between pirates and a competent military commander."_ Ross thought. Years of fighting pirates and bandits had formed a pattern in his head. How they moved, their attack strategies and tactics. He would have to adapt to each enemy individually it seemed.

"Sir, our sensors are picking up Separatist transports leaving the planet!" One of the Officers reported as Ross's eyes widened.

"So that's why he divided our Fleet and created an opening…" Ross muttered. Had they been aware that the Separatist would attempt to flee, they would have strengthened the center, but communications had been jammed for a very long time. All he could do now was to keep on hammering away at the Separatist Fleet to create an opening. Mar Tuuk was smart in keeping his flagship towards the center rear. It gave him an overview of the battlefield around him, left, right and center.

 **Mar Tuuk**

"Sir, our transports have started to make their way to us." A Battle Droid reported as Mar nodded to himself.

"Good, insure that the Republic Fleet does not break through our formation. Keep the two isolated." He ordered. He was taking a few loses, mostly Frigates, but they would buy enough time for the retreating convoys and transport.

"Sir, we are receiving a message from General Grievous." Another Battle Droid reported as Mar ordered the message to be put through. A hologram of Grievous appeared before him and he did not look too pleased.

 _"I see that you have managed to open up a path of retreat."_ Grievous commented as Mar raised an eyebrow. The cyborg seemed to dislike him, and he was also in bad condition.

"And I see that the Jedi were able to defeat you." Mar countered as Grievous snarled at the Admiral.

 _"Why the Dooku appointed you to lead the defense of Bastine is beyond me. You are an incompetent fool who didn't press his advantage."_ Grievous stated as Mar frowned before he shut the transmission. He didn't fear Grievous as many would. What could the cyborg do to him? Mar was an accomplished Admiral, well respected, and had much support within the Confederacy. Grievous couldn't do squat other then pass along his grievances to Dooku.

"Ready the Hyperdrive, we have achieved our objective." Mar ordered, seeing the last of the transports finally land in the hanger of his flagship. Immediately, the Separatists Fleet broke of it's attack and quickly jumped away, thus ending the battle. The battle was over, but it came at a heavy cost for the ground forces and the Jedi.

 **One Week Later**

" _With the capture of Bestine, the Separatist Alliance have lost a major strategic location in the inner rim and the Republic had gained a valuable position to strike from towards the southern outer rim."_ A hologram of a news report from the Galactic Central News (GCN) reported as Naruto watched the news.

" _According to CGN sources, the Republic's battle was hard fought, with the Jedi order leading the charge. The Republic's 10_ _th_ _Army prevailed in capturing the strategic location, however, many are criticizing whether it was even a victory. With so many Jedi losses, the question remains whether or not they are effective leaders in such a time of crisis."_ The news report continued as Naruto frowned. They had lost many Jedi's during that battle and some were put close to the doors of death, but they were able to save them. Sighing, he stood up and headed to the Council Chambers, they had called him for a full report.

 **Jedi High Council Chamber, Coruscant**

"We may have been exhausted, but when was the last time someone stood up to _**five**_ Jedi and held his own?" Ki Adi Mundi began the Council session by reporting on the tragic ending to the Siege of Bestine that cost the lives of four Jedi.

"Not to mention he had just been fighting against four others. And it's not like we were all just some younglings either. Six Masters, two Knights and a Padawan, and he held us off like it was child's play." Naruto added, resisting the urge to itch at the bandages under his shirt.

"Master Secura's recovery is estimated to take at least two weeks." Obi-Wan relayed the grim news. He had recently been appointed the Council to replace the recently deceased Coleman Trebor, which was unprecedented considering he had only been a master for a few months.

"We should also consider the Assassin that your Padawan faced." Plo Koon brought up the Dathomirian named Asajj Ventress, who recently just lost a duel with Anakin Skywalker, but only just.

"These new threats must be dealt with." Master Mundi proposed immediate action.

"I agree. This General Grievous, especially, has changed the shape of the war." Master Windu upheld the general consensus of the Council.

"Our numbers were already dwindling before, but now with these new developments..." Mundi trailed off.

"Yes, we need more Knights. More... _Generals_." Adi Gallia voiced what all of the Masters were thinking. A long pause followed this suggestion. The Jedi were peacekeepers, not soldiers. This war was causing tremendous amounts of strain on the Jedi.

"I know this will generate debate, but I suggest that in this time of war, we forego the trials and promote my Padawan, Anakin, to Knighthood." Obi-Wan proposed.

"This is preposterous! We cannot set aside our most hallowed traditions for the sake of a war we did not begin." Oppo Rancisis, ever the sourpuss, pointed out.

"Nothing about this situation is traditional, Master Rancisis. The Jedi haven't been involved in a Galactic conflict of this scale in over a thousand years. Not since the days of Lord Hoth and the Ruusan Reformation." Naruto countered, mentioning his favorite historical Jedi.

"In this time of need why do we hold back the chosen one?" Mundi nearly demanded an answer.

"Whether or not he is the chosen one is... still to be determined." Mace Windu briefly glanced at Naruto, who reeled at the suggestion. Nuh-uh. There was no way that he was the Chosen One. Anakin could wear that hat all day if he wanted, but Naruto wasn't about to be tied to some silly old prophecy.

"Hmm...Palpatine has been requesting this for months now." Even Piell, who had discharged himself from the hospital against the advice of the Medical Droid, interjected.

` "Politicians have _**no**_ voice in Jedi matters." Master Windu shut down this argument swiftly. Aside from old man Rancisis, Mace was likely the one who least thought that Skywalker was ready to become a Knight.

"Well, he is a cunning warrior...and our best pilot." Kit Fisto raised a different point. Naruto noticed Saesee Tiin and his former Master Plo Koon share a brief dejected glance with one another, but they also silently agreed. They were good, but it went without question that Skywalker was much better than them. He was probably one of the best starfighter pilots in the galaxy.

"But his is reckless with these gifts." Master Gallia pointed out Skywalker's daring tendencies to rush headstrong into battle.

"Sometimes in the past, yes." Obi-Wan interrupted. "But regardless, Anakin has been through things more difficult than the Trials. Surely he passed a Trial of Skill when he defeated that Sith Assassin on the fourth moon of Yavin, and he endured an atrocious Trial of the Flesh at the hands of Count Dooku... And he's continued to pass every test of courage this war has dealt him." Master Yoda hummed at that. This wasn't a matter that could be decided by simple reasoning. The Grand Master started reaching out to the Living Force for guidance.

"It would seem he would have but one Trial left to face." Master Eeth Koth agreed with Obi-Wan's assessment.

"Testing the spirit." announced Shaak Ti, who had also disobeyed the medical droids wishes in order to attend the meeting.

"Facing the mirror." Master Piell was uneased by the suggestion of such an important trial being waylaid.

"And that is precisely what concerns me. To walk the path of the Jedi one must possess a strong spirit, and that requires _**discipline**_. And he has often disobeyed you. Has he not, Master Kenobi?" Rancisis elaborated his objections.

"Did _you_ not disobey _me,_ from time to time, in your youth, Master Rancisis?" Yoda finally broke his silence.

"I know I'm not on this council, but I fought alongside Anakin on Tynna a few weeks ago. In my opinion, he's definitely ready. Perhaps more ready than I was when I was promoted.

"A just debate, this is. But in these days of war, need all the Knights, we can. Unorthodox, young Skywalker's career has been. So too will be his trials. Trust in the Force, I do. A Knight, he shall be."

"If this is settled, then I have another issue I believe we should discuss." Master Mundi spoke up before turning to Naruto. "You are dismissed, Uzumaki, but please do not go too far. I have the feeling we will be calling you back in soon enough." Naruto nodded and began to head out of the room.

"What is this about, Master Mundi?" Plo Koon started. Master Mundi just stared at the doors until they had closed and he was sure Naruto had left.

"Even if we promote more Knights, we did just lose two Jedi Masters..." Master Mundi began, but was immediately interrupted.

"No, no... Not this _**again.**_ " Master Tiin groaned out. "This is the fourth time since Geonosis that we've discussed this and the answer has always been no. He's too young. He's _**not**_ ready."

"If you had seen what we've witnessed, then you would agree with me, Master Tiin. I now see what our fellow Masters have been saying is true enough. Even though he was critically injured, he was still able to stand up to Grievous." Master Mundi had been impressed, nearly awed, by his performance.

"In terms of strength and skill he has been every bit my equal, if not better, ever since he became a Knight. He could probably best some of us here." Master Plo Koon had been one of his supporters from the start.

"There's been little question to his skills as a combatant. What irrs me on the side of caution is the same issue as with Skywalker. He has grown tremendously as a Knight, yes, but he is still much too reckless and emotional." Master Rancisis drew the parallel with Skywalker, but that inadvertently strengthened the opposition's case.

"Skills as a combatant have alone been enough to promote Jedi to the rank of Master. If they were sufficient enough to promote Skywalker, then they're sufficient to promote him. Was I not placed on this Council mostly in part due to my martial skills?" Master Piell reminded the rest of the Council that he wasn't exactly a 'questions first' sort of Jedi.

"What has convinced me to change my mind the most was what happened after Grievous left. In haste, I rushed to pursue him, but he ushered me back. I almost let anger and frustration get the better of me and let Aayla and the two of you die from your wounds." Mundi gestured towards Master Piell and Shaak Ti.

"His head has cooled somewhat ever since he became a Knight. I haven't noticed any of my robes dyed orange yet." Obi-Wan tried to make a joke, but Master Rancisis wasn't in a playful mood.

"Are we seriously considering promoting Naruto Uzumaki to the rank of Jedi Master?" He was clearly not happy at the thought of such a maverick representing the Jedi Order's greatest and wisest.

 **Jedi Temple Medical Bay**

Naruto frowned as he watched the unconscious figure of Aayla on the bed in the medical bay. She had suffered some cuts and bruises, but the worse was the head injury. She had fallen unconscious before Grievous had retreated and they feared that she had internal bleeding. Thankfully, they managed to save her, and she would need some time to recover.

 _"I'm not strong enough…Even after everything I've been through as a Jedi, I'm still not strong enough."_ He thought as he balled his hands into fists. If he was only stronger he could have saved the others, he could have stopped that beast. He closed his eyes as his thoughts dwelled on his powers. He had both the Force and Chakra. While he had become very proficient in the Force, he still knew very little of Chakra. He could count on one finger the amount of techniques he knew regarding Chakra and he hated it. He had power, but he didn't know how to use it.

 **"You can always use my power. You could have saved them."** The Fox spoke from with as Naruto sighed.

 _"No, Kurama. For the last time, I'm getting stronger on my own. Even if I did use your power every now and again, I can't rely on it every time."_ Naruto responded, ending the discussion, leaving Kurama to his own thoughts. Could Naruto really be the one _**he**_ spoke of so long ago?

 **High Council Chamber**

"With all due respect, Naruto should be promoted to the rank of a Master. Everyone calls him a Master. We would only be making it official." Plo Koon stated as some of the Naruto supports nodded at that.

"Not to mention all the support he is getting from the media." Kit Fisto added in as Master Yoda raised an eyebrow.

"Support?" Yoda questioned, this was the first he had heard of this. Windu frowned as he leaned back into his seat.

"This is _**absurd**_ **!** First the Chancellor and now the media? Since when did public opinion determine who we deem worthy of being a Jedi Master?" Master Tiin had already made up his mind. It would be a warm day on Hoth before he agreed that Naruto Uzumaki was ready for the rank of Master.

"It seems like Naruto has become something of a…hero to many. Once word got out that he was leading the 10th Army on Bestine, many began to flock towards him. Offering him supplies, weapons, aid, and such. Most notably are volunteers from Naboo, Pantora, and even Mandalore." Windu explained as Yoda hummed. He didn't invest too much time into the affairs of the military, maybe he should begin doing that.

"Mandalorians in the Republic forces? I thought Duchess Satine had declared neutrality!" Rancisis was taken aback by this revelation. Regardless, Mandalorian warriors were bad news to him. Had the Order forgotten that the Mandalorians once sacked Coruscant?

"Regardless, his ability to lead and inspire is something we cannot ignore. I am sure that in the near future his army will comprise of more and more irregular units as well." Shaak Ti stated. There weren't exactly many opportunities for volunteers or within the military. Most positions went to Clones or former servicemen. As such, Republic volunteers after Battle of Geonosis had been labelled irregulars.

"I understand why people from Naboo would be willing to fight for him, but Pantora and Mandalore?" Obi-Wan questioned. He knew that Naruto and Plo Koon had chosen to take a more active role in the Mandalorian Civil War than he and Qui-Gon, but he did not know to what extent.

"The Pantoran's are willing to fight because he helped remove their corrupt government from power and saved their world from falling into an oligarchy." Shaak Ti explained. She was with him on that mission and knew all about it.

"And the Mandalorians see him as a hero because he was just a child when he fought in their civil war. Mandalore's culture had long revolved around their warriors. To see a child fighting alongside seasoned warriors garnered respect and admiration for him. Many still do not agree with the Duchess' pacifistic stance, and so I'm sure they're unconcerned about expatriation." Plo Koon explained as Kit Fisto nodded. Yoda looked around the room and found that many of them agreed. He closed his eyes and let the Force guide him.

He remembered how he first found Naruto. The boy was an outcast, hated by and ignored by the village he lived in, yet he didn't snap. He still remained optimistic, holding out hope that people would come around if he just worked hard enough. Yoda did not believe that Naruto could fall to the Dark Side, the boy seemed incapable of it even after having a beast of such malevolence sealed within him. But still, Naruto had only been a Knight for not much more than two years.

"I think he should be promoted. He's ready for the rank." Obi-Wan threw his two cents in. Naruto had come a long way from that hot-headed boy he once knew. He was a Jedi General, a leader, a hero, and an inspiration to millions across the galaxy. He would make a fine Jedi Master.

"Then everyone has made their decision?" Windu questioned. To be honest, he wasn't in favor of promoting Naruto yet. He respected him as a Jedi, more so than Skywalker, but he was still too young. However, he could not ignore the boy's accomplishments, and he did have his suspicions that Naruto might be the chosen one instead of Anakin. It would have to be left up to the vote.

 **Jedi Temple Halls**

After visiting Aayla, Naruto walked through the halls to the Temple workshop. He needed to build a new lightsaber, after all. He wasn't looking forward to making a trip to Ilum to retrieve a new crystal, but he could at least construct the handle here. He grabbed the tools and parts he needed and got to work assembling the raw materials into parts that he would put together with the Force later.

Naruto was ready to insert the diatium power cell, but when he reached for it, it was missing. He turned right to see if it fell on the floor, then behind him, then finally left. That's when he heard the sound of quiet, small footsteps. Naruto smiled and placed his hands on the workbench, feigning ignorance. Before suddenly turning around and grappling the offending youngling who screamed out before bursting into girlish giggles.

"Naru, that tickles." Ahsoka said between fits of laughter. Naruto had lifted her into the air by the waist and his hair was brushing against her neck and lekku.

"What was that? Tickle me more, _**Master Naruto**_? Well if you insist." But before he could continue, the Togruta teen managed to wiggle her way out of his grip, catching her fall and getting to her feet, Ahsoka stuck her tongue out at the blond Jedi Knight.

"Jerk" she huffed.

"Brat" Naruto fired back before embracing the young Togruta in a hug. "Sorry I didn't tell you that I got back. I've been buried in paperwork and reports until now." he apologized, and the young Togruta hugged him back tightly.

"I haven't seen you in months. I didn't think you'd ever come back." Ahsoka whined. "The only reason I didn't think you were dead was because Siri was back here a few weeks ago and she told me you weren't."

"Well I don't know how she knew that because I haven't spoken to Siri since Fondor a month ago." Naruto joked. Ahsoka punched him in the side as punishment.

"The Force, dummy." Ahsoka tried to explain Siri's source of information and Naruto only replied with an 'ah'. Suddenly, he began beeping.

"Ahsoka, I have to go. The council wants to see me." She didn't let go. She didn't _**want**_ to let go. He might not come back for real this time. Naruto sighed, trying to think of a way to get the young Jedi to let him go. "Ahsoka, longer you hold onto me the less time in the day we can spend together later." Ahsoka smiled at that.

"Really? You mean it?" she beamed. The war had really reduced the time he spent in the temple.

"Yes, I mean it. I'll be right back, and it should only take a few more minutes to finish up here. After that, we can spend the entire day together." Naruto assured her. She began jumping for joy and started running off to her room to prepare. He had to pull the power cell from her hand with the Force, because there was no stopping her otherwise. He set the power cell back onto the workbench and began to head toward the High Council Chamber.

 **So, what do you think will happen? Will Naruto finally be promoted to the rank of Jedi Master? What color will his lightsaber be? What will Siri's reaction to his saber being destroyed! Read, like and review! I shall see you all later! Bye!**


	17. Anthologies of a Jedi Master

**How's it going everyone! Hope you are all doing fine! This is, as you all known the 17** **th** **chapter of this story and this is more of an anthology chapter and is not in chronological order! A big thanks to be beta reader/writer a he has done a fine job on this chapter! Also, em, sorry for the wait? Lol. We were a bit delayed as we had this one chapter was written twice (this being the second time) but rest assured that chapter 18 will be out sooner, I hope lol. Now then, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, bye!**

 _ **Promotion Party**_

 **Jedi Temple, One Day Later (Eight Days After Bestine)**

The Battle of Bestine was a long and hard-fought battle, one that revealed new enemies, formidable opponents and shed light on the true length of the war. It would not be an easy war or a short war as proven by the Separatist competent leadership. The great burden that had been placed on the galactic peacekeepers known as the Jedi had already dwindled down their numbers greatly. The greatest number of casualties had been those with the rank of Knight, but a few Masters in the Order had also fallen victim to the growing conflict. With the war spiraling out of control, the Jedi were forced to promote those who would previously be considered unqualified to higher ranks.

This looming fact weighed heavily on the mind of the 10th Army General and Jedi Master, Naruto Uzumaki.

"Why the long face? Cheer up, buttercup. You've just been made a Jedi Master. Most people would kill to be in your position" Siri tried to force the blond Jedi's mood into higher spirits, to which he smiled only slightly.

"Thanks, I guess." Naruto replied as Siri rolled her eyes. Siri knew the demon that was plaguing his thoughts. Whatever he had faced on Bestine, it was not some ordinary Sith. From what she had been told, it was a four-armed cyborg that was capable of going toe-to-toe with experienced Jedi Masters. She was just glad that Naruto managed to get out alive.

"I'm still not happy that you went and got your lightsaber destroyed." Siri commented as Naruto nervously chuckled, but nothing seemed to bring him out of this slump. When Siri had found out that his lightsaber was destroyed, she was pissed. That crystal in that saber had been damn hard to find, and she would personally make that cyborg pay for that.

"Sorry about that." Naruto said, causing Siri to sigh before she smiled and grabbed his hand.

"Look, little brother. I know you've got a lot stressing you out, but the fact that you were able to survive a battle where even Masters fell should be some sort of comfort. That monster is probably too strong for any one Jedi. So quit being a sourpuss and come party with your big sis!" She stated before she dragged him, making their way to the airspeeder hangar and hopping into one of the transports.

"Where are we going?" Naruto questioned as Siri hummed with a smile.

"I don't know." She said playfully, causing Naruto to pout as he folded his hands letting things take their course.

"We're going to Dex's Diner, aren't we?" Naruto questioned as Siri looked at him, a bit surprised.

"H-How did you know?" She questioned him as she drove the speeder towards the diner.

"Cause it's one of the few good places to eat on this planet that's affordable, and Dex is probably the only person in the known galaxy that knows how to make ramen." Naruto explained as Siri sighed. The owner, Dexter Jettster, only ever learned how to make ramen because a young Naruto had complained so much the Besalisk cook finally caved in.

"Spot on, and it's my treat too." She muttered, a bit surprised that Naruto knew her so well. It didn't take long before they arrived at the location, which was oddly not as busy as it was supposed to me.

"Guess business is down these days…" Naruto said to himself as he got off the speeder. The war was still rather new and already it's effects had already begun to surface. The Republic was going under rapid militarization, recruitment for the GAR was in full swing, and supplies were being rationed. Even though Coruscant itself hadn't been attacked in a thousand years, it didn't mean that it was safe and secure.

"Oh, don't be so sure." Siri said with a smirk as she opened the door, revealing a cadre of Jedi that Naruto knew quite well. Kenobi, Que-Mars, and even Master Fisto and Shaak Ti had made it out.

"Well, if it isn't Master Uzumaki himself." Obi-Wan commented as he walked up to the two. Naruto was surprised to see everyone here on such short notice.

"So…this is an actual party…" Naruto said as Siri nodded with a grin. Maybe he didn't know her as well as he assumed.

"I don't mean to rush things, but can we get the festivities going? I'm a bit peckish." Kit Fisto spoke from his seat as Naruto chuckled at his Shii-Cho teacher. He was broken out of his thoughts as something heavy attached itself to his shoulder.

"So I guess I gotta call you Master Naru now, huh?." He heard Ahsoka say as Naruto looked down at her, a bit surprised.

"Nope, it's still Master Uzumaki" Naruto corrected her, causing her to pout. Even though they had just spoken yesterday, it had been quite a while since he had seen her before that. So this was a good opportunity

"Just you wait! I'm gonna be a Padawan soon enough!" She proclaimed. She was one of the best in her groups and would be becoming a Padawan soon. In response, Naruto just stared at her intensely.

" _ **No.**_ You're never becoming a Padawan. You'll be my little youngling forever, 'Soka. Now that I'm a Jedi Master I'll make sure you're never promoted." Ahsoka couldn't help but whine at the joke. Both of them knew that the day was coming that she would be forced into the war. The best he could do was to have her be his Padawan, that way he could keep a close watch on her.

"I have to say, these Agamarian soybeans are fantastic." Obi-Wan commented, already digging into the food. He had fully supported Naruto becoming a Jedi Master and had voted in his favor since the beginning. It was the same with Plo Koon, Shaak Ti, and even Kit Fisto.

"And quite expensive." Fisto commented as he looked at the menu. They cost over 36 Credits! That was enough to buy a full meal and then some! Shaak Ti shied away from the omnivores and bit into her meat dish. Togruta didn't have those sharp teeth for nothing. Dex sighed as he prepared his pots for a hefty shift of cooking.

"With the war going on, the Mirgoshir System, where these beans mostly come from, joined the Separatists. Shipments from there 'ave stopped ever since the start of the war, so the beans are in a bit of a shortage. S'why they're so expensive now. People don't know the true value of something until they lose it." Dex responded and Naruto nodded to the last part. Many people had taken the thousand years of peace for granted and now a war raged on the likes of which no one in the galaxy had seen. Naruto frowned as everyone's mood seemed a bit down.

"Come now! This is meant to be a party! Forget about the war for today! Dex, I want your best ramen for this boy, ten bowls!" Obi-Wan shouted as made room next to him. In his years with the Jedi, Naruto had told everyone about ramen, a food gifted to the people of his planet from the gods themselves, and had taught Dex what he knew about making it. It was simple to cook, but the noodles were time consuming to make. Without Naruto, Dex wasn't sure if the item would turn him a profit.

"You got it, Obi-Wan!" Dex replied, quickly getting to work as ever chuckled at the order.

"I hope your appetite hasn't changed." Plo Koon stated from behind the group he walked up to the group who greeted him.

"It hasn't. I've tried everything, but I just can't get him to eat healthy. It's always ramen this, ramen that! It's probably a good thing that Dex was the only one that could make it." She replied as she rolled her eyes causing Plo Koon to chuckle.

"Well, he couldn't be Naruto without his obsessions." He added as Siri nodded at that. It was what made him, well, him. Unique in his own way.

"I am not short! Master Plo, am I short?!" Ahsoka shouted out from her seat as Plo Koon began to laugh. Seemed like Naruto was teasing her again.

"I better take care of this." He said as he headed to the young Jedi hopeful. Siri merely chuckled at that. Much like with Siri, Naruto and Ahsoka had become like siblings, with Plo Koon being a father figure that brought the two together. He had trained one and discovered the other. It was so odd to see some of the most prestigious Masters in the order be so bonded with one another, as if they were just a one big family.

 _"Guess that's the effect Naruto has."_ She thought to herself with a warm smile. Truly, he was one of a kind. "Obi-Wan! It's time to see who's the biggest heavyweight on Coruscant." Siri shouted through the ground as Kenobi shook his head in a mix of amusement and embarrassment.

"You're on, Tachi." he responded, quickly making her way to the challenger. She would show him that she wasn't about to be outdone yet!

Naruto wasn't one to turn down ramen and tonight would be no different, but while he waited he decided to excuse himself and stepped outside. He needed to be alone for a while.

"What's troubling you, young Naruto?" the voice of Plo Koon came from behind. Naruto knew that he couldn't hide this from his Master for long, so he finally confided in his former master.

Yesterday, Naruto had been called in by the Jedi High Council, and in a ten to two vote, had been promoted to the rank of Master. Only Saesee Tiin and Oppo Rancisis had opposed his promotion, though Mace Windu had been on the face of the matter for quite a while. Naruto was a relatively new Knight. While Obi-Wan and Siri had to wait almost a decade before being promoted to Master, Naruto had been elevated to the position after little more than two years. He hadn't felt that he'd earned it like his friends had, and for once he agree with old man Rancisis. Part of him wanted to refuse, but he felt needed in the war, and so he took a position he wasn't entirely convinced he was ready for.

"This isn't coming from just me, Naruto. Even before the war, Master Fisto and Master Shaak Ti had been advocating for your masterhood. I wouldn't have voted in your favor if I didn't think you were ready. The rank of Master isn't something we hand out simply because times are tough." Plo Koon tried to wipe away his doubts.

"What if I fail like I did at Bestine and Devaron? Those Jedi, those troopers that were under my command. They looked up to me and I couldn't protect them." Naruto asked.

"Ask the four Jedi Masters whose lives you saved if you really think you failed on Bestine. Ask Master Gallia if she thinks she thinks you failed at Fondor. Ask the dozen or so Jedi if they think you failed them on Geonosis." Plo Koon again reminded him of his accomplishments throughout the war. "The Jedi are not flawless, Naruto. Even if you somehow were perfect, you can't be everywhere at once. Jedi will die in this war, and you have to teach yourself to let go. No one is promoted before they're ready, Naruto. If that were the cases, there would be hundreds of Jedi Masters instead of dozens."

"Master Plo, this war is only going to get more intense...If something happens to me..." Naruto clutched at his bandaged chest.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure Ahsoka is well protected." Plo Koon reassured his former Padawan and turned to head back in, confident that Naruto would follow him. When he didn't, he turned back to Naruto and spoke again. "At least we'll finally get some peace and quiet from Que-Mars about just how much of an injustice it was that you hadn't been promoted."

At that, Naruto finally smiled.

 _ **The Inner Rim Campaign**_

 **Kooriva System, Three Weeks After Bestine**

Naruto hated being away for so long, too much paperwork to come back to. Frowning as he read a few more reports from the front. After the defeat at Bestine, the Separatist forces had been forced to go on the defensive in the War's southern theater to product the valuable industries and strategic positions there, which meant that the few Inner Rim worlds that supported them in the area had been abandoned by them and were thus defenseless.

With their Droid Fleets retreating deeper into CIS territory, the Chancellor saw fit to bring these Separatist supporting system back into the Republic. As such, he delegated three Sector Army's to carry out a range of sieges with would later be known to the press and public as the Inner Rim Liberation. Darth Sidious had pulled some strings to get the 10th Army drawn to the Southern front once again, hoping that these military campaigns against undefended worlds would cause Naruto's popularity to plummet. However, once the Republic reached the Corporate Alliance world of Kooriva there was a slight problem.

"Sir, they're... refusing to surrender." Fox reported as Naruto sighed as he set the data pad down. Naruto would never willingly attack a world that was more or less defenseless, even more so now that they had been abandoned by the Separatist Fleet. These worlds had become discontent with he Republic ways of doing things and saw right to gain the ability to self-rule, but now they had been abandoned by the very military force that was to protect them. And bringing them back into the Republic without a show of force would only cause problems later on. In a roundabout way, the Separatist retreat had put Naruto is quite the predicament. If he invaded, he would be seen as a ruthless conqueror. If he occupied, there would likely be a large political and military resistance.

"What do we do?" Siri questioned as Naruto leaned into the chair, in deep thought as everyone looked to him for a solution. Master Adi Gallia, General of the 5th Army, calmly observed the Jedi Master she had tutored in politics. By spending so much time with Siri - and by extension her - it was inevitable that he would pick up on things and eventually develop a knack for politics himself like Siri had. She was proud of the fine young man Naruto was becoming. His concern for the people, even if they were the supposed enemies, truly was a testament for the goodwill in his heart.

 _"He's become a true Jedi."_ She thought with a smile. At the start of the ware she thought he was unprepared for the rank of Master, but after Fondor she had proposed the third vote for his promotion herself. In the vote two weeks ago, she had also voted for him to become a Jedi Master and she was certain she would never regret it. King and Fox merely stood next to one another, standing at attention amidst all the high-ranking officers and Generals. Fox knew that Naruto's philosophy would come into conflict with these short campaign, while King was slightly confused at Naruto's hesitation on such a matter. Conquering these worlds would be quick and easy. So why not simply take them, even if they resisted?

"Attacking them would make things worse. It would only serve as more propaganda material for the Separatist to use against us. Just think, "Republic Army attacks defenseless worlds." That would push so many neutral worlds into the arms of the Separatists it would make the Chancellor's head spin. It would also increase support to ultra nationalist parties on various planets. Aside from the fact that this whole campaign is pointless. It'll only result in more public discontent for the Republic and a waste of military resources, not to mention the casualties." Naruto explained as he sighed once more. He could not send in his forces, it risked too many civilian casualties for little gain.

"But sir, we have our orders from the Chancellor himself." King argued. If one of Naruto's concerns was Clone casualties, then he would make sure that such a concern was unfounded. They were soldiers in a war, casualties were to be expected. Naruto raised his eyebrow as he folded his arms.

"I was mostly talking about civilian casualties, but I'm not enthusiastic about your lack of concern for your lives, you are more than throwaway soldiers . You are a living, breathing being, the same as I. Your right to live is no less important than another's. I will not send your brothers into a pointless battle that will lead to unnecessary deaths." Naruto explained as King was slightly taken back as Fox chuckled at his reaction.

"Don't try to change his mind, trust me, he's taken plenty of grazing shots to save a few Clones." Fox said with a chuckle as King simply looked at the chuckling Clone.

"That maybe, but we are Clones sir, we are meant to be expendable." King stated. While he admired Naruto's tactical unpredictability and his conduct on the field, he could not allow the blond Jedi's philosophy to get in the way of an easy victory.

"Just because you're meant to be something does not mean you are destined to be it." Naruto responded, remembering the days in Konoha when he thought he was meant to be the next Hokage. His words hit deep and left King speechless.

"As much as I would love for you to debate philosophy, we still have a problem." Master Gallia stated as everyone refocused on the problem at hand.

"We could try to negotiate with the threat of force." Naruto reasoned as Fox shook his head.

"I don't think that would do much good, sir. The Inner Rim Worlds that support the Separatists have formed a loose alliance. Our reports indicate that the they are reactivating old planetary defense warships and have begun to reinforce the various outposts across the planet and have instituted military conscription. I don't think they want to negotiate, they're getting ready for a fight to the death." Fox stated as Naruto took in a deep breath. He hated this whole thing. People were going to die, people he and Master Gallia knew from prior to the war.

"There are many people on these worlds that I considered friends, friends I made on my missions. I still consider them friends too. They're good people who only want what is best for their own. Now, I'm forced to occupy their homes and sack their property…" Naruto explained. It left a bad taste in his mouth to fight against them.

"Them maybe we could attack their smaller military installations as a deterrent to their resistance." Siri offered as Ross finally spoke up, shaking his head.

"That will take too long. We don't know every single military asset, nor do we have time." Ross countered as Siri narrowed her eyes.

"I wasn't asking you." She stated as Ross rolled his eyes. Naruto sighed at the two's glare-off.

"Enough. I won't have a war in my quarters. Fox, I want you to send out scouts to key military assets. We will try limited intervention of strictly military assets, at first. Try to neutralize their key resistance and try to end this with minimal casualties. Once their most militant supporters have been dealt with, we can hopefully occupy the planet needing to leave half a corps as a garrison." Naruto ordered as he finally ended the discussion. He would see how this all played out and hoped it didn't end in him sending in the full might of the 10th Army.

 _ **I Hate You**_

 **Telos System, Two Weeks After Bestine**

Siri grunted as she dodged some incoming fire from a few Droid Fighters. While Naruto was stuck back on the Temple recovering and doing paperwork to replenish the losses they had suffered at Bestine , she was given the glorious task of seeing to it that the Separatist didn't raid their supply convoys from Bonadan, a major exporter of minerals and industrial goods in the Corporate Sector of the Outer Rim. In other words, she was stuck patrolling Separatist controlled space.

"I wish I hadn't wished for some action." She muttered as she downed two Droid fighters' but was still being chased by vulture Droid fighters.

"Flash, a little help here?" She requested for backup from her Clone comrade.

 _"Sorry General, but I have my hands full as it is."_ Flash responded as he too was being chased by Droid fighters. It was just another patrol mission, but it went south as a Droid Fleet had ambushed them.

"Great. Where's Pablo-Jill when you need him." She said as Flash chuckled at that. She spun her fighter before reversing the thrusters to get behind the Droids, but it didn't work.

"Persistent little bastards!" She commented. These Droid fighters were different from the rest. _It reminded her of a space Droideka!_ It was armed with four laser cannons and seemed to carry a complement of a few buzz droid missiles.

 _"My intelligence reports indicate it's a new, interceptor-class of Droid fighter's that the Separatist have built. It features a more advanced AI for intense close dogfights and also features heavier firepower."_ Rear Admiral Marck, recently promoted, said over the comms as Siri sarcastically thanked the man for the non-information.

"Thanks, but that doesn't really help me!" She shouted as she turned into a spinning dive. Marck only sighed. He was taking care of the Droid Frigates and their agility was making it hard to keep them pinned. Lately, the Droid fleets in the Northern theater had started changing tactics, likely as a result of General Grievous assuming command of the entire Separatist military. They were now relying more on hit-and-run tactics which, given the speed most of their ships featured, had been strikingly effective. She was suddenly brought out of her brief daydream by Flash.

"Watch out, General! More of them coming from the hangar behind you, watch out!" He screamed out over the comm channel. Siri had piloted her ship right in front of the Lucrehulk's hangar.

 _"_ _ **Full spectrum jamming, now**_ _!"_ Siri suddenly heard over the comm as her Delta 7's comm systems went offline. However, the brilliant ploy had fully disabled the Tri-fighters emerging from the hangar. Siri visually scanned around her before seeing an orange-painted Venator much like Naruto's own, but there was a thick black stripe parting the middle of the hangar.

 _Great_ , it was Ross. He was in the _Pride_ leading a group of light cruisers and other support vessels and with his orders, the Tri-fighters were met with an intense barrage of laser fire that neared overkill. Ross _**really**_ wanted to destroy the Droid's chasing after her.

"Well, that works, I guess." Siri stated as she turned her fighter, heading straight for one of the Droid Frigate.

 _"A little thank you would be nice, General._ Ross said over the comms as Siri's eye twitched at the tone he was using. " _But I'm more concerned about the follow up. Marck, approach from point three five and open fire on the enemy command ship. You have about thirty seconds to get into position."_

 _"That will put us right in their heavy turbolaser's line of fire!"_ the Rear Admiral protested.

 _"Just do it, Zels!"_ Ross barked and Zels had learned by now not to question him in these situations. The _Repentance_ moved into position as ordered only to find that the enemy turbolasers weren't firing on them. The dust and debris from the tri-fighters had _**clogged**_ the Lucrehulk's turbolasers, rendering them unable turn and retaliate at Zels' high angle. As the two Venators ripped into the Lucrehulk's hull, the Droid fighters suddenly went offline.

Siri growled as her squadron of V-19s fired away at bridge of one of the supporting frigates, ripping right through the weakened shields as the destruction of the bridge caused a chain reaction, causing explosions to rip throughout the Frigate, completely destroying it. Not much later the other two frigates had been destroyed and the battle was won.

 _"Fine work if I do say so myself."_ Ross completed his usual circle of self-gratification as Siri rolled her eyes. Ross could be such an ass most of the times, but there were few moments where he wasn't totally insufferable. When it came to raids on supply convoys like these, Ross was a master of engagement. The Corporate Sector hadn't suffered a single loss or delay of a convoy now that he had been promoted to the rank of Fleet Admiral. He had taken to overseeing the defense of the Republic's shipping lanes personally.

 **Onboard the** _ **Pride**_

"I had it under control, Ross." Siri grumbled at Ross in the bridge corridor. She had tried reasoning with herself, denying that she needed his help. Ross chuckled at her denial.

"Clearly you didn't if you were asking your squadron for help." He said amidst his laughter. Siri puffed up and tried to look bigger than Ross, who had over half a foot in height over her at six foot three. His dark brown hair had grown longer in the past three months, and his bangs had started to drape over his eyes just like -

She tried stopping herself from finishing the thought, not wanting to compare him to Ross, but she had already made the connection between Ross and Ferus. They did indeed look similar to one another, and Ross' drive to excel reminded her greatly of her overachieving former Padawan. If Ross was a decade and a half younger, had a gold streak in his bangs, and had both of his eyes, the two could be rather good-looking identical twins.

Her thoughts then turned sour when she compared the two further. Ferus was not prideful or overconfident, nor was he boastful like Ross. The two had their similarities, but wasn't everyone alike to another in some way? Besides if they were alike then Ross -

Again she tried stopping herself, but she had already though it. She hated herself for making _**that**_ comparison, but instead she directed her rage outwards, and her face contorted into a fierce scowl.

"...I hate you." Siri's choice of words seemingly came out of nowhere, and Ross was taken aback by her vitriol. Surely he hadn't pushed her buttons that much, had he?

For a brief moment, and even though he didn't understand why she had been so upset, Ross felt a twinge of guilt.

 _ **Admiration**_

 **Onboard the** _ **Pride,**_ **Null System, Seven Weeks After Bestine**

Nearing the end of the fourth month of the Clone Wars, the Republic was finishing the Inner Rim Liberation Campaign. Mechis III, Colla IV, and Yag'Dhul, major Separatist strongholds, were the only Inner Rim worlds left in Separatist control at this point. Despite relatively low resistance in the earlier weeks, the Separatists had mass produced enough droids to make taking the last few worlds hellish for the GAR. The Republic had suffered enough losses that it was now necessary to recruit the next batch Clone troopers off the simulations on Kamino, and by the start of the fifth they were already being put to the test.

"Go, Go!" Fox ordered as Ross' flagship shook. A few hours ago they were heading to meet up with the rest of the 10th Fleet, but as they were about to make the jump, they were ambushed by a Lucrehulk, two Providence-Class Cruisers, and a hoard of frigates and destroyers. Currently, Fox and a platoon were trapped defending one of the hallways of the Venator as the Droids were boarding the ship.

"There's too many of them!" One of the newer Clones shouted out as he was pinned underneath a legless but functioning B2, fighting for his life in close quarters with his DC-17 hand blaster. Fox cursed under his breath. The "shinies", as they had been dubbed for their unscuffed armor, had no real battle experience outside of the simulations and and their casualty rates were far too high for his liking. Even Ross seemed alarmed by the high rate in which they perished.

"I've got you covered!" He heard Siri who jumped above the new Clone trooper, deflecting the incoming fire before he charged forward, easily cutting down the Droids in the hallway. The recruit was quite impressed with his General's abilities as Siri moved forward.

"Move it trooper!" Fox broke him out of his trance with a quick tug on the back of his breastplate.

"R-Right." The Clone obeyed, following the Fox as they and a group of Clones headed to the main hangar where the Droids had taken hold.

"What's your name shiny?" Fox questioned as the Clone looked at him, confused.

"Shiny, sir?" The Clone questioned as Fox nodded as they kept on running.

"You're armor is new and shiny, meaning you're fresh off of Kamino. So, what's your name?" Fox questioned once more as the shiny Clone was still left confused.

"My Clone designation is CT-7701. I'm the Sergeant of 7th Squad" The Clone stated as Fox shook his head.

"That's not a name." Fox stated as CT-7701 looked even more confused at that. What was that supposed to mean?

"How…did you get _**your**_ name, sir?" CT-7701 questioned as he quickly leaned back as a blaster bolt passed him. He grabbed Fox and pulled the both of them into cover.

"You've either got a good head on your shoulders or you're just very lucky." Fox replied as he returned fire blindly as CT-7701 nodded slightly before he tried to move from the cover to advance. He was sure he was going to make it when he felt a series of sharp stings in his sides as he crumpled to the floor in a heap. His grunted in pain as he laid there.

 _"This is it, eh? It hasn't even been a week and I'm already done for."_ He thought as he had already accepted his faith. The Droids would advance and find himself wounded and finish him off and he would be replaced by another Clone.

"Covering fire!" He heard the voice of his Commander as he was grabbed from the back of his armor and pulled into cover. He looked up and saw that it was indeed the General.

"You're a lucky one, aren't ya?" Naruto questioned with a chuckle as he looked over the wounded trooper.

"Your wounds are minor, you should be still good to fight. What's your name?" Naruto questioned as CT-7701 nodded to himself.

"CT-7717, Sergeant of 7th Squad." He answered, but Naruto shook his head.

"No, your name is…Seven." Naruto stated as the newly named Seven looked at him, a bit confused and…happy?

"Seven…sir?" He questioned as Naruto nodded before he looked up from the cover before ducking back down as blaster fire flew above his head.

"You're lucky to be alive trooper, given that you were hit by a B2's wrist blaster. Non-vital areas thankfully. You've got three sevens in your designation and you're the Sergeant of Squad Seven? I'm definitely calling you Seven, since seven is a lucky number." Naruto explained as Seven slowly nodded.

"Right…" He said simply before Naruto nodded.

"Well then, let's show these bastards how it's done!" Naruto shouted as he jumped over his cover, charging into the fray with his new, icy-blue blade.

"You ok, trooper?" Fox questioned as he pushed up with a bunch of Clones, firing away at the Droids with his duel blasters.

"Seven…" Seven stated as Fox raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Fox questioned as he fired down range.

"My name is Seven." Seven answered as Fox blinked before it dawned on him and chuckled slightly.

"Seven, eh? The General sure comes up with creative names." Fox .

"Sir?" Seven questioned as Fox ducked back down Seven.

"The General gave me my name. Said that if you finagle 4010 a bit you can make it spell Fox. He's done that plenty of times in the past. You've joined quite the elite club by being named by him." Fox stated, causing Seven to look a bit surprised.

"Really?" Seven questioned. The most he had heard about the Republic officers back in Kamino was that they weren't terribly concerned for Clone casualties.

"No, not really. He named damn near half of the 497th." You couldn't see it behind his helmet, but Seven's face fell. "But he even saved your life. You'll find that he tends to do that a lot. So you've got a named and he saved your life. that means you're officially one of us, now. He saved me, a single Clone, on the first battle of the war. He's put himself in danger to save many of our brothers lives when he should have left them to die for the combat advantage." Fox stated before he too vaulted over the cover, charging into the Droids to assist Naruto leaving Seven to think of what he had just been told.

"A Jedi that truly cares about us…" He thought as he strengthened his resolve. Yes, he would fight for someone like him, for someone who cared for his brothers.

 _"To the very end."_ Seven said to himself, ready to even follow Naruto into the depths of a black hole if he had to. Today he was a shiny, but after this battle he would be a vow to become a soldier worthy of a leader like the General. Fox broke him out of his enthusiastic trance.

"Uh, hey, Seven? Kamino to Seven. This ship is about to go down, rookie, so unless you plan on making Null your permanent residence, you might want to get to an escape pod."

Commander Fox had never seen anyone haul ass faster in his whole life.

 _ **Bases and Battalions**_

The Republic had developed a new military strategy, the 1/4/16/64 Plan, which split up the Corps of a Sector army into smaller and smaller parts.

One Corps of each army would remain intact for major campaigns, while another would be separated into its Legion components and conduct mid-sized operations. The next Corps would be subdivided into sixteen regiments to conduct the small-scale operations. This had increased the demand for Padawans to become Jedi Commanders, leading to more and more younglings being promoted too early and forced into the conflict, much to Naruto's chagrin. The final Corps would be broken down into sixty-four battalions to conduct individual key missions.

Naruto liked the plan, but he felt it assumed that all of the Clones were identical in their methodology and mannerisms, and he had learned early on with the 497th that that was simply not true in the slightest. He felt it needed something more to accurately accommodate the different skillsets of a Company or Battalion. He was trying to work on something to improve it, and many of his officers had offered him help, but there were still pieces missing and they were unable to develop a better system, so Naruto implemented it as-is.

Three and a half months into the conflict, one would say that the Clone Wars were in full swing. The Separatists had finished their conquest of most loyalist Outer Rim worlds and established their power base, while the Republic's victory at Bestine had ruined any chances of a Confederate invasion of the Core Worlds in the near future.

Only two months had passed since the decisive battle on Bestine. The Confederacy's defeat had opened up the possibility of recapturing many of the breakaway Inner Rim systems back into the Republic, a task that the newly promoted Jedi Master Naruto Uzumaki also found unpleasant. He had made too many acquaintances prior to the secession of the Confederacy to have conquering their worlds be the slightest bit pleasant.

The time he spent as a Padawan training with Siri had also been time indirectly spent with her Master, Adi Gallia, who had a keen political mind and was a well-known diplomat. To avoid boredom, Naruto had become rather politically astute so that he could follow the conversations and goings on in the Republic. As a result, he met many senators and diplomats and their families, and now, he was arresting those very people and seizing their resources to further the war. It left a bad taste in his mouth, but he was loyal to the Republic and this was part of his job, so he bit his lips and carried on. He had managed to stay detached from the work so far, but this had left a good deal of frustration bubbling up inside him.

When news of Bestine, one of the Separatists key worlds in the inner rim, falling to the blond Jedi General, people from all across the galaxy began to volunteer and thousands volunteered specifically for the 10th Army, wishing to fight under the charismatic Jedi. Although many didn't get their wish fulfilled, the rapid expansion of the irregular forces was warmly embraced by Chancellor Palpatine, whose patriotic speeches had inspired millions more to contribute in their own ways.

 **Taris, 10** **th** **Army Headquarters, Eight Weeks After Bestine**

"More volunteers for the GAR?" Naruto questioned as Siri nodded, handing him a data pad. He sighed as he began to look through the information presented to him, although he still had the same number of Clones, about a hundred and fifty thousand, but nearly five times that many irregulars had joined up with him.

"A lot of Mandalorians that fought in the Civil War way back when. They have combat experience, but they're not exactly used to the rigid structure of a military. They're not much more than organized than a group of mercenaries or bounty hunters." Siri explained as Naruto leaned back into his chair. Satine refused to remilitarize Mandalore in fears that some of the war-hawks might take control of it. As a response to her refusal, many pro-military supports, mostly youths who were inspired by Mandalore's warrior past, left Mandalore to fight in the Clone Wars, to fight with him.

"They've given up their citizenship on Mandalore just to be considered Republic citizens and soldiers." Naruto said with a tired sigh, causing Siri to raise an eyebrow.

"Is something wrong? We could use some volunteers to fill in the gap while more Clones arrive." Siri commented as Naruto shook his head.

"They're just a bunch of kids who are high on the nostalgia of an era they never experienced. What will they do when the war is over? The need for soldiers would decline as the lack of a galactic war would slowly but surely lead to the decline of the military." Naruto explained as Siri furled her brow in comedic disbelief. Naruto was still younger than a lot of the volunteers here. He was just a scrawny 11 year old boy when the war had started.

"I reckon that most of them, if they survive, will end up becoming Bounty Hunters. It'll be hell for any criminal or low-life scoundrel to make a living in about a decade or so." Siri theorized as Naruto nodded.

"Probably. They don't know it yet, but the Clone War is just a one big boot camp for future radicals, Bounty Hunters and who knows what else." Naruto finished as he set the datapad aside.

"Anyways, how about we go get a fresh one? 'Operation: Full Hammer' is only a couple days away. We should relax and unwind for now." Naruto offered, causing Siri to smile. It wasn't every day that one got the chance to go out on Taris for their fine alcohol, but the 10th Army was the exception that proves the rule.

Naruto and Palpatine had chosen Taris for his army's headquarters wisely, as it was part of the Council of Neutral Systems under Duchess Satine Kryze. This meant that the neutral coalition would be guarded from Separatist incursions, and that the Republic could keep a closer eye on the neutral systems to prevent them from joining the Separatists. When Palpatine suggested it, Naruto agreed, but on the condition that he be allowed to manage the base without interference from the Chancellor's lackeys.

Thus, he and his troops were able to repudiate the Republic's overbearing regulations and enjoy a pint of Tarisian ale without worrying too much about some uptight stooge breathing down their neck. Naruto always made sure that at least half of his forces were sober at all times, but after tonight, no one would be out drinking. They had been joined with the 3rd Sector Army under General Luminara Unduli and were about to enact the largest offensive of the war yet.

"I wonder if Ross' newfangled flagship is finished yet." Naruto mentioned to Siri, who turned to him in confusion. "Those new Star Destroyers? Didn't you hear?" Siri only stared back at him blankly.

"Oh right, that was for Sector General's eyes only... Oops." Siri scoffed at Naruto's carelessness. Even if he had become a Jedi Master and progressed greatly, he was still the same person underneath all that.

 _ **Not a Date**_

 **Jedi Temple, Nine Days After Bestine**

About a week had passed since the battle of Bestine, and Naruto still felt the party from last night buzzing in his head. For the week, Naruto was mostly stuck in the Jedi Temple, performing some duties that were required of Jedi Masters.

"This is ridiculous. I should be out on the frontlines fighting, not stuck here!" Naruto commented as he went through datapad after datapad, holobook after holobook. He never reading the things except when it came to lightsaber combat, but knew that he would have to do it. So, here he was in the Jedi Library, while Siri was off fighting under Ross' command.

Yes, that thought terrifies him just as much as you would think.

"I see you're working hard." He turned to find Aayla Secura leaning on one of the shelves. Naruto rolled his eyes at that as he picked up another one.

"Oh, very funny." He responded as Aayla chuckled at that.

"Need any help?" She questioned as she took a seat next to him as Naruto shrugged.

"Eh, if you want to kill your brain cells, go ahead." Naruto answered, handing her a datapad. Taking hold o it, she went over the information.

"History? Really?" She questioned as Naruto nodded.

"Yup, learning about some old fossils, older than the Ruusan Reformation. I know all about Lord Hoth because he was such a cool guy, but..." Naruto stated as Aayla nodded at that as she read more.

"You're right, this information dates back to the time of the New Sith Wars…" Aayla agreed. Why in the name of the Force was he supposed to learn about that? It started over two thousand years ago.

"Something about learning to not repeating history or seeing the effects of the old eras. I don't know, Master Yoda is cryptic as usual. I think he just wants to figure out how the Sith survived for a thousand years without anyone knowing." Naruto said as Aayla nodded at that. Master Yoda mostly spoke in riddles and such.

"Anyways, just mark down any important and key events for me to go over later, it'll cut down on my work load quite a bit." Naruto instructed her as she nodded and began to got to it. The two spent a few hours together, going through datapad after datapad before Naruto was finally fed up.

"Ok, you know what? I'm so done!" Naruto proclaimed as Aayla blinked at the sudden outburst. She was about to respond but saw Naruto's slight smirk as he seemed to remember something. "You know, you still owe me..." Naruto's smirk widened as he probed his memories for any way to get out of this.

"For what?" She questioned a little raucously. Wondering what he could possibly be talking about.

"For saving your blue ass back on Bestine. You said you'd let me take you out for a drink." He reminded her.

Oh...that.

"So what do you say we get outta here and go get some grub and a good drink or two." Naruto propositioned.

Perhaps it was his charm, her sense of gratitude, his imminent unrelenting persistence if she refused, or her own nature as a Twi'lek that prevented her from refusing offers of food, but Aayla replied with a nod

"Then it's a date!" Naruto said with a fox like grin as Aayla almost tripped as she blushed madly.

"W-What?!" She questioned him.

"You heard me, a date!" Naruto said once more.

"It's not a date!" She raised her voice in turn as the two walked to one of the speeders located in the Temple.

"Oh come on! Loosen up a bit! It'll probably not be as boring as being stuck in that library." Naruto said as she blushed. She was raised in the Jedi Temple for most of her life, with the Jedi Code ingrained into her mind. The idea of going out on a date was quite foreign to her. She had casual encounters in the past, as did all Jedi, but dating was rather strictly forbidden.

"You're blushing, Aayla." Naruto said cheekily as she punched him in the gut a bit too hard. "My ribs…" Naruto moaned in pain as he pulled himself from the wall. If he had known that she could punch that hard, then he wouldn't have teased her that much.

"No, I'm not!" She denied, trying to hide the magenta flush in her cheeks, but she failed miserably.

"So…it's not a date?" Naruto questioned her. Aayla, still blushing, huffed.

"No. Jedi don't date, especially not Jedi Masters." She replied, causing Naruto to chuckle at her reaction.

 _"At least I might get a good tease out of it."_ he thought as the two resumed their walk to the hanger bay. "Okay, okay, not a date…" He mentioned for what she presumed was the last time as the two of them entered the airspeeder.

 **Coruscant, Level 2683**

Although she would probably prefer to be anywhere else, she at least got to choose their destination, a little hole in the wall club on the lower levels she frequented that had food to die for.

"Jedi aren't supposed to drink, you know." Naruto again tried to tease her.

"You know as well as I do, if not better, that no one actually follows that rule." Aayla smiled as she leapt out of the airspeeder. Jedi were supposed to always maintain clear judgement, and alcohol inebriated the mind. While it wouldn't get you expelled from the Order, Jedi were expected to not drink recreationally. Perhaps a few of the older and stricter Masters followed this rule wholeheartedly, but most Knights and Padawans of age were known to have the occasional drink or two, and tonight was no followed her and they approached the entrance.

As he walked into the smoky and dimly-lit bar, Naruto quickly recognized that a good deal of the patrons here were Twi'lek men. Perhaps the place made Aayla feel at home, perhaps she had made friends her, or maybe she just really liked the food - Naruto didn't know - but what he did know was that he saw a young green-skinned Twi'lek girl in provocative clothing was dancing on a stage.

Aayla had just brought him into a gentleman's club. A club that she admitted to him earlier that she frequented.

This new revelation made Naruto's jaw drop, and he wasn't able to pick it up until after the food he'd ordered arrived. Now it was Aayla's turn to laugh, her giggles finally breaking Naruto's out of his stupor.

"So why is it that you chose this place of all the clubs on Coruscant?" Naruto asked. He had to know just why she knew and chose this place over the millions of more reputable establishments all across the ecumenopolis.

"Oh, I first found this place over a decade ago. Master Quin brought me here once before we returned from a mission." Aayla took a sip of her drink while Naruto's brain scrambled to analyze this new information. Aayla wasn't quite yet 27, so Master Vos brought her here as a teenaged Padawan? He knew the man had a reputation for being - well, _**crazy**_ \- but he didn't think they were so true. "The food is great, the drinks are strong, and the... entertainment is pretty decent and it tends to keep people distracted." Aayla finished her entire drink with a brief gasp of air and a mischievous grin.

"And you... like it here?" Naruto gulped, anxious to know more.

"Do you think I would've picked this place for our date if I didn't like it?" Aayla countered. Naruto saw his opening to turn the tables.

"I thought you specifically said this was not a date." He flashed a fox-like grin at his victory, but it was a victory short-lived when Aayla rested her pink upper lip on the tip of her straw.

"You're right, it's not. Damn, I here I was thinking we could go back to your room." Naruto was completely taken aback. Aayla had always been so confident and serious. It looked like Master Vos had passed along more than just a few of his eccentric traits.

"I can't believe I've never seen you like this. Are you always this way when I'm not around?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"Not exactly. I'm usually only myself when I'm outside the temple and alone, or with Master Quin. Dealing with the stress of being a Jedi - and now General - all the time is exhausting, so sometimes it's nice to just take a moment and not worry about it so much." Aayla half-smiled at him.

"So you decided to take me to a strip club?" Naruto deadpanned.

"You were so stressed out reading those datapads that I thought I might take the time to teach you my own secret to unwinding." Aayla had noticed that Naruto, over the past couple months, had started to age considerably. His brow had wrinkled and his eyes had begun to sag from the lack of sleep. The war had taken it's toll on everyone, and despite the front he put up, Naruto was probably one of the more worse off about it.

"Well, uh... Thanks, I guess." Naruto tried - and failed - to avoid stumbling over his words.

"You guess, huh? So now it seems that you owe me one, Naru." Aayla asked as she stood up from her seat.

God dammit, Ahsoka.

"I guess you're right. So what do I owe you?" Naruto asked her as he leaned back in his chair, arms folded behind his head. His attention was drawn to the now topless dancer on stage. He missed Aayla's smile as she walked up to him, grabbed the fold of his shirt, and pulled him into a deep kiss. Naruto's eyes widened before he realized just exactly what was happening. He folded in no time and began kissing her back just like in his dreams. Aayla suddenly broke the kiss and spoke into his ear.

"Thank you for saving my life on Bestine, Naruto. I am truly grateful." Aayla laid some credits on the table before she sauntered out of the room and walked outside to get out of the smoky air. For as much and as long as she had wanted to do that, she couldn't let it happen again. Naruto had caught her eye ever since Geonosis. It's why she had requested to be put under his command. She hopped into the airspeeder and began her return to the Temple.

She knew now that pursuing anything with him, aside from the obvious breaking the Jedi code, would only put more of a burden on his shoulders. Now that they were both Masters commanding armies on the field of battle, they couldn't be bogged down by silly distractions.

She was about halfway back to the Temple when she realized she had left Naruto behind.

 **So? How was it? Good? Bad? Leave a like and review! Now, some of you still don't know what the pairings are, which I have no clue hope, but here they are: NarutoxAaylaXBoXChuchi. Samll manageable harem of just three. One being a Jedi, the other a Mandalorian warrior and the last being a politician. This will not change, so no one will be added or removed. With that out of the way, I am going to go sleep like a log. Bye!**


	18. Raiding Rhen Var

***Jumps down, smiles* Hello there. How are you all doing? Good I hope! So, here is the next chapter for this fine story that you all seem to enjoy! Now it's a full chapter which I hope you all will enjoy. Now, some of you are wanting me to do a time skip and all to get to the main event, well, sorry but that will happen in about 3 or 4 chapters? But yh, we want to establish solid characters before diving further into the Star Wars universe. With that said, please read and leave a review on how the chapter was and if this is your first time reading this story then I hope you stay till it ends. Enjoy!**

 **Five Months After the Battle of Geonosis:**

The massive offensive in the Northern Outer Rim known as 'Operation: Full Hammer' had begun. All across the galaxy, Republic forces were carrying out dummy attacks in the Southern mid rim to distract the Separatists and draw forces away, but it seemed they weren't going to be fooled. Dooku was one step ahead of the Republic and had reinforced the northern worlds considerably. It was quite ingenious of him to see though the Republic's bluffs.

Or someone had tipped him off to the entire operation beforehand...

 **Onboard the** _ **Negotiator**_ **, Rhen Var system**

Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi started down the immense Separatist Fleet. Obi-Wan had been promoted to be one of the select few High Jedi Generals, and was given command over the 3rd and 10th Sector Armys, and tasked with the pushing towards Raxus. They were hoping to end the war early, before the CIS were able to produce more droids than the Republic could keep up with.

As the commanding officer of the newly formed Third Systems Army, Obi-Wan had one of the most elite fighting forces in the galaxy, nearly a tenth of the Republic's total military might, as well as the man that was widely considered to be the best General in the GAR, Naruto Uzumaki.

At least, that's what Naruto kept telling him.

Master Luminara and most of the 3rd Army has been stopped to deal with a considerable Separatist invasion in the Ossus System. This was good, in a way. The more Separatist forces that were diverted the easier it would be for him to capture Rhen Var, but it also meant that he had less troops to take the planet, and at this point he was beginning to think he needed them.

Obi-Wan turned his attention to the planet the Republic had lost just a few months prior. It was a battle he knew well, as he was the one overseeing the final retreat and evacuation. In a few short months, the Separatists had turned the planet into a monstrous stronghold. Over it orbited the Separatists' entire 11th Fleet, engaging his ships in fierce combat. His fleet was under the command Admiral Wullf Yularen onboard the _Resolute_ , while the 10th Fleet was being guided by Wyle Olander on his flagship, the _Sovereignty_.

On the ground was a garrison that nearly rivaled that of Coruscant. The Separatist base was heavily fortified, and their orbital bombardment had no effect. The Separatist were using powerful shield generators to protect the base and they would have to resort to a surface attack. Even though one had already fallen to Master Bilaba's group, the shield still stood strong.

But the biggest question was why go through all this trouble to defend Rhen Var?

This caused the Jedi Master to furl his brow in frustration. The Separatists had compelled Kenobi to engage them here, because this number of forces could not simply be ignored. Any further advances to the North could be ensnared in a trap from behind. But Rhen Var held little strategic position. Nearby Felucia or even Columex would probably be more valuable. It confused Obi-Wan greatly, and that caused him even more frustration.

Regardless of the reason, Rhen Var had to fall. He had faith that Master Piell - leading the 10th Army - and Anakin - leading the 7th Sky Corps on the ground in his stead, would be able to take this planet.

However, the 14th Deep Operations Corps, which would be perfect for an invasion such as this, was inconveniently missing. Surely the 14th Corps couldn't be too far behind schedule.

 **Onboard the** _ **Fire's Shadow**_ **, Quell System**

Naruto found himself extremely behind schedule.

His brow tensed up as he observed the many ships that had assembled before him. The Republic Navy was finally up to snuff. Many of the gains the Confederacy had made in the early stages of the war had been turned back into Republic hands as blockades across the galaxy were broken and sieges were lifted.

Now, armed with a full fleet of twenty-eight Venators, twelve Acclamators, a dozen of the new Pelta-class frigates, thirty-two Arquitens-class cruisers, twenty Dreadnaught cruisers, and a myriad of almost a hundred other support craft, the 10th Navy was at full operations capacity. And he one hundred and fifty thousand Clones and quarter of a million irregulars that made up the 10th Army were raring to go.

So why then had Naruto been ordered by Palpatine to remain behind and wait for Ross' to arrive with the new line of starships? To make matters worse, Ross was late; almost two days late.

"Where's that no-good, inconsiderate ass?" Naruto muttered stressfully. Naruto still didn't like Ross or his stratagems, but the man had an uncanny battle sense, and Naruto couldn't deny the victories that he had snatched from defeat. Even though his operations often cost him more troops on average, Ross had yet to lose a single battle in the war. Even if he had been forced to abandon the _Pride_ , he managed to take control of that losing battle and crushed the entire Confederate 9th Fleet, securing the Inner Rim for the foreseeable future. The 10th Army now had the two greatest victories for the Republic under their belt.

Ross was at his best when he was pressured, that's for sure. Naruto only wished that the Admiral would just refine his new methodology and abandon his old one in full. And that he would be on time for once. His utter lack for punctuality had grated on Naruto's nerves at every corner.

"If you ask me, it's probably better that he's not here." Siri commented as she stood next to him. Naruto silently agreed. Ross tactics were far too costly. Even if he had started to improve, Naruto still found the man's personality quite insufferable.

"But we need a Fleet Admiral." Naruto reasoned, even if he didn't like Ross, they needed one, a damn good one. Siri rolled her eyes at that.

"Why can't you just appoint Olander to that position? He's far more cautious and isn't so... Ross." Siri reasoned, referring to Wyle's recent promotion to Admiral. Naruto sighed at that. While earlier in the war he would've done so on the spot, he wasn't so sure now. He had a couple near fumbles at Fondor and Bestine, but Ross had seemingly softened up about a month ago for whatever reason, and now that he had experience fighting against the Separatists, he had analyzed all their little tricks and had turned the 10th's Navy into the most powerful and effective fighting force in the entire Grand Army of the Republic. Had they not won Bestine, Naruto was sure that the 10th Army would be better known for Ross and its Navy, rather than the actual Army.

With these new developments, Ross had been drawn into the public spotlight. So even if Naruto wanted to promote Olander over Ross, doing so might not make the most sense strategically or even politically. It wasn't that Olander wasn't capable, it was that Ross was so good it made no sense to demote him, despite his... personal shortcomings. Naruto wasn't part of High Command or even the Navy anyways. They had the sole power to promote officers. Enlisted men could be promoted if he wanted, but he seldom used that authority. That and he was sure that the Olander didn't exactly want the position anyways. His hair was almost completely grey already, and he didn't want the poor old man to go bald.

"Sir, General Kenobi is requesting you meet with him, in person, aboard his flagship at Rhen Var. I think he wants avoid transmission intercept." Fox reported as Naruto sighed. It was true that Palpatine had ordered him to wait until the new ships arrived, but considering how extraordinarily late Ross was, Naruto had the authority to declare Ross missing in action, and the ships were never coming, thus rendering Palpatine's orders invalid. And following a direct order from his commanding officer was as good an excuse as any to leave.

"Very well, jump to his coordinates. Send word to Coruscant that Admiral Ross Darahan is hereby declared MIA and the 14th Corps is moving to reinforce General Kenobi at Rhen Var per his request. Send priority communications to Ross that, if he's out there, to meet us at this new rendezvous point. Be sure to warn him that it'll likely be a combat zone when he arrives." Naruto ordered as Fox nodded before handing down the orders.

"Looks like you get your wish." Naruto said with a light chuckle to Siri, who simply huffed and looked away.

"I just don't want him blowing holes in another space station while you're still on it. I'm only concerned for your safety, baka." Siri stated, adding in an insult in Naruto's language. Siri knew how to speak Naruto's old language...well, sort of. It was extremely difficult and had very strange syntax. Not even the protocol Droids could translate his language properly. It was rooted in ancient Mandalorian, but had seemingly developed into something else entirely over hundreds or maybe even thousands of years.

"Please don't mix languages, you sound like even more of a dork. If you're gonna talk to me in my language it's all or nothing." Naruto retorted in his own language, and Siri could barely follow what he said. Considering that his language had completely different syntax than basic, it probably didn't sound the same to him as it did to her.

"Would you rather talk to a protocol Droid?" She questioned him, causing Naruto to pout. Aside from Master Yoda, who had studied it prior to Naruto's first meeting with him, Siri was probably the only person in the galaxy that could hold a conversation with Naruto in his native tongue. At least, when the conversation involved him trying to cook ramen, a delicacy he greatly missed from his home. Dex's take on it offered him some comfort, but nothing could beat old man Teuchi's recipe.

 **Three Hours Later, On the Bridge of the** _ **Negotiator**_

"What's the status on our heavy support equipment?" Kenobi questioned Admiral Yularen, who was also directing the battle above planet.

"We sent over three hundred AT-TEs down to the planet's surface, only about a hundred were left intact upon landing. Other supporting equipment has also reached the planet in a similar state. General Skywalker has also reported that his assault on the enemy base is causing him to lose many men. He says that his Legion alone has probably destroyed at least a hundred thousand battle droids." Yularen reported as Kenobi frowned. Rhen Var was more than just a pitstop, it was a significant fortress world. The Separatists had fielded millions of droids. Obi-wan would need to use every possible resource to take it.

"Sir, General Uzumaki's Fleet has arrived and are moving to engage the Separatists. His shuttle has left the docking bay. Commander Fox has the _Fire's Shadow_." CC-2224 'Cody' reported to Obi-Wan, who sighed in relief. Good, with another Fleet in the system it was sure to cause the Separatists' problems.

"Good, send word to Fox: 'have the 14th Corps prep for battle', and have Rear Admiral Marck and the Repentance move to assist Admiral Yularen as part of the rear guard." Kenobi ordered as he chuckled to himself slightly. He couldn't believe that the blond boy who ran into all those years ago became one of the youngest Jedi Masters in the Order's history. It didn't take too long for Naruto to arrive with Siri, as well as the 14th Corps other Jedi Generals - Bultar Swan, Serra Keto, and Que-Mars Redath-Gom - in tow.

"So, what was so important that you had to drag me out here and make me come see your wrinkled old ass in person, Kenobi?" Naruto joked and Obi-Wan could only let out a wry smile. He appreciated the effort, but his spirits were far too bogged down to joke further. Pressing a few buttons, a hologram of the massive fortress appeared.

"The Separatist forces are dug in heavily on Rhen Var. Given that the fortress is situated overlooking snow plains, it provides them the ability to fire in any and all directions." Kenobi stated as the other's looked at the fortress. If it was any other battle, a fortress built on an open plain would be a foolish decision. However, the fortress was not only protected by redundant shield, it was also littered with heavy encampments, making landing troops near it a suicide mission.

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why you felt the need to bring me here in person when I could've just used holocommunications." Naruto asked more seriously this time. Obi-Wan gave him a serious look back that made Naruto shiver.

"A moment in private, General?" Obi-wan half-asked, half-demanded, and dragged Naruto out into the hallway alone. Leaning in towards Naruto's ear to avoid potential eavesdroppers, he spoke.

"Someone within the 3rd Systems Army is a traitor." Obi-Wan spoke sternly but quietly. Naruto furled his brow as if you ask if he was sure. Kenobi only nodded and continued on. "How else do you explain the massive security breaches? Dooku and the Separatists knew we were coming. Throwing everything in the area they have at us and reinforcing Rhen Var to thoroughly that we'd have to take it to avoid the threat of a major counterattack." This news didn't come as a total surprise to Naruto, but it was still unexpected.

The only people who knew about this Operation ahead of time were he and Luminara; the Generals in charge both Sector armies. Obi-Wan; the commander of the operation. Their Naval liaisons; Ross and Yularen. Siri; who Naruto had told against orders. Republic High Command; who planned it. And the Office of the Chancellor; which always knew everything. Naruto also surmised that their aides and communication officers could have read the memos against orders. Recognizing the situation, Naruto internalized the information and the two walked back onto the bridge.

"What of the ground assault? Aayla and Skywalker are in command, I presume?" Naruto questioned. He didn't like Skywalker, but this was war, so he had to put aside his grievances for the good of the Republic. Obi-wan nodded his head towards the planet.

"No, Piell took up this cup for you. Here's a quick breakdown of Piell's last report on the position of each Legion in the 10th Army." Kenobi pressed a few buttons to display a holomap of the battlefield and began pointing at several marked dots on the screen.

"First, Master Fy-Tor-Ana managed to take down one of the six shield generators without being noticed, but she's since come under heavy fire." Naruto nodded and turned his head to Que-Mars, who had already left the bridge to prepare his landing. The 382nd Overwatch would be perfect to create a crossfire and free up General Ana's forces.

Naruto had taken it upon himself to teach those under his command his tactics and strategies. The weequay Jedi Master was by far his most devoted student. He could only grin when he turned back and saw Kenobi's confused face. He dismissed the Jedi Master's concerns with a silent wave of his hand.

"Master Piell and two Legions have established a landing zone and are coordinating our forces from there, but it is a bit far from the operations field." Cody took the reins of the briefing. Naruto didn't see a problem with this setup. The 68th was a big think tank of amazing and unorthodox strategies, and the 401st Amphibious legion was poorly optimized for snow combat, and having them maintain a defensive position was probably the best use for them here. He only made a note to have Piell move the LZ to a more advantageous position near the West ridge behind Aayla and Anakin.

"Master Secura' three legions are with Anakin and the 501st, taking on the responsibility of leading the main ground assault towards the Separatist base. Your 182th scrambled all fighters to engage the Separatists in orbit, and I've supported them with all the fighters the 7th Corps has, but we're facing an entire Fleet here, I was hoping you'd bring Admiral Darahan along with you to turn the tide." Obi-wan subtly questioned, but Naruto simply shook his head. Ross seemingly wasn't coming, but Siri and some of the 14th Corps' piloting companies might be of use.

"General Bilaba and the six legions she is leading have taken up a position on the far side of our main battle group, near the East ridge. The Separatists have several major encampments and large trenches here. She's keeping a great deal of droids from reaching Anakin. They're probably encountering more resistance than him, but they have twice as many troops." Cody brought the focus back to the ground battle. Naruto again saw no issue with the tactic, but he thought Depa should be making better use of the 134th Mechanized Infantry. They should be working separately from the main battle group. Scouting ahead and overwhelming infantry emplacements with their superior mobility and firepower.

"General Secura's and General Skywalker's forces have suffered significant casualties, especially in terms of heavy ordinance. Immediate reinforcements are necessary." Admiral Yularen finally spoke up, showing Naruto and the others the attack plan Anakin had laid out. The plan caused Naruto to frown, but before he could get a voice in, Siri brought Obi-wan attention to the screen.

"Even if the ground forces pushed through the Separatist Fleet here, as they did, they'd come under immediate fire from the heavy guns the fortress has around it. Why do you think the Separatist fleet allowed the ground forces to break through their blockade when they had total naval superiority? They flew right into a kill zone. Aayla probably encountered the most trouble as she landed. Anakin seems to have realized the situation just in the knick of time to prevent the same outcome." Siri explained.

"That's quite the hindsight, but knowing how they got into this situation doesn't exactly help them out of it, Siri." Obi-Wan commented. "What do you propose?" Siri looked at the holomap, but her mind came to a blank. She had seen the same problem but couldn't come up with a solution. That's when Naruto came to her rescue.

"Skywalker is struggling because he landed his forces out in the open to avoid the heavy guns. The 501st doesn't need more heavy ordinance, they need cover. One squad of troops with some explosives is enough to take out a shield relay, we don't need all these AT-TEs. Redeploy our A6 Juggernauts and AT-OT's instead. Load them up with troopers and we should be able to provide that for them." Naruto advised Obi-Wan who nodded and turned to Cody, who got to work on Naruto's suggestion.

"Well that takes care of Anakin, but Aayla still needs reinforcements and I cannot send anymore then we already have." Obi-Wan stated. He had to divide his forces and he was providing as much support as it could, but they needed more.

"I'll have my troops start landing. But they're gonna have to land much farther from the fortress to avoid the same mistake. It will take some time for them to catch up." Naruto reasoned as Kenobi frowned. Each second wasted in taking Rhen Var meant that the Separatist had more it to reorganized.

"If I may, General Uzumaki. I suggest we abandon the idea of a head-on assault of the base and have you take a stealthier approach, it worked well with General Ana. While the Separatist are distracted dealing with General Skywalkers forces, a small team can land on the other side of the East ridge, and destroy the shield generators. Each one destroyed will leave part of the fortress unprotected from orbital bombardment. We can wipe out the heavy emplacements that are bogging down the 501st's advance." Yularen suggested as Naruto hummed. It was a better plan then sending more men down there to fight in the open, so he opened a holocommunication channel to Fox, Naruto would have to split up part the 14th Corps.

"That may be, Admiral, but that doesn't change Aayla's need for reinforcements. General Swan, rendezvous with Fox - have him prepare the 497th and 73rd Legions. Your goal is to provide relief to Aayla and General Skywalker. Sera, I need you to deploy now with what you have prepared. Land ahead of me, break up the 242nd, and relay the location of those shield generators to me, and take out anyone that might report our position. Get the 6th Company ready, I'm taking 'em down myself. That second shield generator will be rubble in a few hours." Naruto had given out his orders, but he turned to Obi-Wan. Even though he was their General, he still needed his commanding officer's approval.

"Then I suggest you act fast. We need to keep the Separatists on their toes. It's the one advantage we have here. I don't think the expected us to attack Rhen Var with only about half our forces. They haven't brought reinforcements from anywhere nearby so I can only assume they're coming from far across the galaxy." Obi-Wan stated. This was all the approval Naruto needed. With that, the transmission was cut as Naruto turned around and the group made their way back to the rest of the fleet. Siri following him through the halls of the _Fire's Shadow_.

"What do you want me to do?" Siri questioned him.

"I want you on stand-by. Currently, we're winning the space battle. I want you and the squadrons ready at any moment. Obi-wan was right, Separatist reinforcements are coming, and soon. In the meantime, I'm making you acting Captain of the _Fire's Shadow_ until Ross arrives, if ever, or you have to launch. Listen to Zels' advice and trust in the Force, you'll do fine. Launch at your own discretion." Naruto responded. He wanted to keep fresh fighter squadrons should the Separatists send a sizable relief force.

"Until Ross arrives, you and Zels should pull back and act as the rear guard for when the Separatists send reinforcements. If they attack from behind our Fleet will be finished." Naruto, at this point, was trying to imitate Ross' commands. The 14th's fleet could protect Kenobi's Fleet rear while also keeping out of the action for a while for when they were really needed. The rest of the fleet had the situation mostly under control so there would be no point in sending in fresh ships in.

"Copy that." Siri replied. "I'd best ready my starfighter then. Good luck." She said as she ran off to the many hangar bays.

"I best be getting ready for ground assault. I would wish you luck, but the General already did." Fox said with a chuckle as Naruto nodded with a smile.

"Thanks,. Now let's get going, Fox. Those shields aren't going to destroy themselves." Naruto said with a laugh as Fox simply shook his head. While it was his plan, he knew it was inevitable that something crazy would come out of it.

 **With Anakin**

Anakin grunted as he deflected series of blaster bolts sent his way. Everything was going great. They managed to breakthrough the Separatist Fleet above planet and that was ever the great part ended. As the assault forced approached the landing zones, they came under heavy flak fire from the Separatist forces. Anakin foresaw the outcome of the Separatist and tried to order Aayla to divert her landing craft, but by the time he had explained it was too late and she crashed right into the middle of a Separatist emplacement. They had lost many gunships on the way down and the walkers Obi-wan sent weren't much help.

"Sir, we need to fall back. We're too exposed here." Rex, a Clone Captain, suggested to Anakin, who shook his head.

"Retreating would only put is right back into an open field. More casualties for lost ground, and I'm not about to waste lives on a retreat. We need to take that bunker and set up a perimeter using their own defenses against them. We owe it to our comrades to take that fortress, and turning back now betrays their memory." Anakin stated. Morale wasn't all that high due to the casualties, but they were the 501st and they considered themselves to be the toughest Legion. They had fought on the front lines in the first battle of the war, after all.

"Sir, we have an incoming transmission from General Kenobi." A Clone trooper that Anakin didn't recognize under his snow gear ran up to Anakin, keeping his head low as blaster fire rained over his head. He quickly activated the holotransmitter and a hologram of Obi-Wan appeared.

"Anakin, how's the war on the surface progressing?" Obi-Wan questioned as Anakin rolled his eyes at his Master.

"Fine." Anakin replied as the sound of heavy artillery shells dropping onto Republic forces could he heard. Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow as Anakin sighed.

"Ok, maybe not that fine. But things are under control now." Anakin elaborated as Obi-Wan sighed.

"Considering your situation, I've dispatched Naruto to deal with the shield generators. Rendezvous with Master Secura and wait for our orbital bombardment to clear the area before continuing your advance." Obi-Wan stated as Anakin frowned at the mention of Naruto. Naruto was everything he was not. The blond Jedi was already a Master at such a young age, too.

"Master, I can take the fortress with what I've got. Those shields only stop blaster fire and high speed craft. We can just walk right in." Anakin protested. He was sure he could do it, but Obi-Wan shook his head.

"No, Anakin, your losses are too high. If you lose any more taking the fortress might not be an option. I'm sending more support down there for you to cover your advance towards the fortress." Obi-Wan stated as he cut the transmission. Anakin's hand balled into a fist. He didn't need anymore walkers, they were just getting shot to pieces.

"General Uzumaki? I hear he's quite the soldier." Rex spoke up, a bit glad an experienced General was being sent to aid them. He liked Skywalker, and respected his way of handing the Clones under his command, but he wasn't exactly a seasoned General yet. Give him a few more battles on a less chaotic field and he'd be the best General the Republic had to offer.

"I heard the 497th just got some special commando units." Another Clone muttered to his Captain, who only cursed as to how lucky Commander King was.

"From what I know, the 497th is like us. Above your average Clone Legion." Sergeant Appo responded as the word began to spread throughout the battlefield. This boosted the morale greatly, causing Anakin to get more and more heated.

He had always felt a deep rivalry with the blond Jedi. They had both been brought into the order late at around the same ages, had both become Padawans to Jedi who were part of the Jedi Council, and around the same age, and they both had great tactical minds. He wasn't afraid to admit that Naruto was still better than him, but that gap had been closing greatly ever since the start of the Clone Wars.

"Alright then, Master Naruto. You've got a challenge. Don't go thinking you can claim victory before you've won!" Anakin thought as his body shivered slightly underneath his snow gear. He would be the better General and his Clones would be the best damn Legion in the whole the war!

"Come on, men! We have a generator to destroy." Anakin ordered a change his objective. Having reconsidered his strategy, he noticed one of the generators was not too far from his current location. He wasn't about to just sit and wait while Naruto took all the credit.

 **With Naruto**

The gunships slowly shook from entering the planet's atmosphere as Naruto calmly stood in the gunship, eyes closed as he waited for the gunships to land them a few miles away from the fortress.

"Sir, are you sure this will work?" Fang questioned his General. He, along with the 6th company, were called upon for this stealth mission. Fang's armor resembled that of an ARC trooper, but this was no normal armor, he'd had custom blades installed under his wristplates.

"Relax, with you and your brothers armor, they won't even see us coming." Naruto responded as Fang nodded to that. The armor's color was dependent on the environment and temperature. This was highly experimental technology not meant for mass production and was exorbitantly expensive. After realizing the potential for stealth operations that Shadow Company possessed, Naruto had put in a request for the experimental stealth armor. It had taken a couple months, but Fang thought it suited them.

"Approaching LZ." The gunship pilot reported from the cockpit as everyone nodded. As the gunship approached the landing zone, the doors slide open, allowing them to get a quick look at the battle that was raging on towards the East.

"Aayla's forces are bogged down, even with all that support." Fox commented as Naruto nodded. She had combined her new forces to try and take the Separatist position when she should have split them into smaller teams and taken them apart piecemeal.

"As much as we'd love to hear your input on the greater battle, General, we need to focus on our mission." Fang commented, recognizing that the General was about to go on one of his tactical tangents.

"Right, let's get moving. Time is key. We don't have much of it before Separatist reinforcements arrive and turn the battle above against us." Naruto said as they began to move out. If all went well, then there wouldn't be any major fighting until after the first phase of the plan.

For now, they needed to meet up with Fy and Que-Mars. After seeing just how many millions of droids were on the planet, Naruto immediately knew that destroying the generator with just one Company would result in their imminent demise in the aftermath.

 **Above Planet, Two Hours Later**

"Any word from Ross?" Siri questioned Olander's hologram, who sighed.

"I finally got word from Coruscant that he's just now on his way. He seems ecstatic about these new ships. It was a rather odd correspondence." Siri hummed curiously.

"Why's that?" she probed. Olander barely held back a scoff of disbelief.

"He actually apologized for being late." Siri's jaw almost hit the floor with that news.

"What can you tell me about these new ships?" Zels chimed in with his own question. The Admiral who closed his eyes and looked deep in thought.

"As far as I know, the new ship of the Rendili StarDrive design and is supposed to match Kuat's Venator. Rendili doesn't seem to want KDY have a monopoly on warship production for the Republic. It's supposed to be superior in firepower, but the hangar bay only holds twenty-four fighters. It's not a carrier, that's for sure. It bears the Destroyer designation, so it's bound to be pretty big." Olander answered the best he could. He knew little of what was to come.

"We have Republic ships dropping out of hyperspace." An Officer reported. The two quickly turned their attention to the four ships that had dropped out of hyperspace. The shape was almost that of a Venator, but that's where the similarities stopped. It had only one bridge and was more compact. It didn't have a vertical hangar across the top for starters. Instead it had a plethora of heavy turbolasers and point defense systems.

"That looks quite…intimidating." Siri commented with a slight frown. The ship gave of a sense of…power, of fear. She counted the small group, a total of four, take position near the Fleet.

"Indeed they do." Olander stated, as he was put off by the design. It looked far too similar to Imperial designs during the Old Republic. He shook his head, now was not the time to thinking about ancient history.

"General?" Olander questioned as Siri began to exit the bridge.

"Aayla seems to still be in a bit of a bind. I'll be taking our fighters down to the surface for reinforcements. Perhaps we can gain air superiority and get a few of those guns to start following us." Siri didn't pause her stride and the bridge doors closed behind her. No one noticed the pained look on her face.

 **Onboard the** _ **Spearhead**_

"My sincerest apologies for the wait, General Kenobi. The final inspection had evidently revealed a serious issue in one of our ships and we were grounded until it had been inspected and fixed in all of our vessels." Ross apologized to Obi-Wan as the transmission faded. He hadn't found it unusual that maintenance had been sped up considerably after he'd received word of Naruto departing for Rhen Var, but what he did find odd was how quickly it had been completed. It had taken nearly twelve hours each for the first three ships, but the last ship was suddenly finished in less than five.

The Admiral stood warily, but confidently, on the bridge of his new flagship, The _Spearhead_ , a fitting name for a vessel meant to lead battle formations. After his last battle, Ross's old flagship, the _Pride_ and several other Venators had been lost. To replace these, the 10th Army was given access to new warships being developed by Kuat's main rival. These ships were undoubtedly superior in terms of firepower compared to the Venator, but it had to cut down on its hangar size and starfighter starfighter compliment.

"I still think it's a better warship overall when compared to the Venator. Let's see if it lives up to its namesake and brings us victory." Ross thought before he shook his head.

"Get me in contact with General Uzumaki." He ordered as he waited for the contact to be established. Not a minute later the hologram of Fox appeared.

"Admiral." Fox spoke plainly. It was safe to say that many Clones did not have a high opinion of Ross, whose tendency to get their brothers killed was quite high for victory. Regardless, he was a simple Clone, he had no authority over an Admiral.

"Where is the General?" Ross questioned Fox, wondering where the blond Jedi.

"The General's leading a covert mission inside an enemy structure. My squad has stayed outside to receive holocommunications so he can avoid detection. He's ordered Zels and his portion of the fleet to remain on standby. He expects enemy reinforcements." Fox answered, filling him on the details. By the end of it, Ross hummed but nodded. Even these new ships wouldn't be able to penetrate the planetary shield.

"It seems that General Kenobi had taken the upper hand up here. The Separatist fleet is in quite the bad position." Ross stated as he turned to look at the space battle that raged on before him. Admiral Yularen had pressed the attack and pushed the Separatist Fleet from its defensive formation, isolating a large portion and pincering it between his and Tarkin's fleets.

"Very well, I shall remain on standby for now." Ross agreed, but was disappointed that he wouldn't get to test out these new ships in combat. Naruto's concerns weren't unfounded. Besides, he didn't feel like arguing with Tachi again. All would be well if she stayed on the surface.

 **With Anakin, Rex and King**

Anakin was not in a good mood. The 497th had arrived about twenty minutes ago, and King had begun barking orders at the 501st. He'd nearly taken leadership over the entire operation, and was now leading the charge against the shield generator. What surprised him the most was the rapid advance of the 497th. In just a few hours, they had caught up with the 501st and finished their resupply.

"With all due respect to Commander, maybe you should listen to General Skywalker. He is in charge of this Legion." Rex told King, who merely shook his head.

"General Uzumaki's explicitly left me in command of the 497th and my objective is to assist General Skywalker in talking down the shield how I see fit. I'm not under his command." King replied, Rex was about to retort, but Anakin sighed loudly.

"Let's not get bogged down about who's in charge of who, Commander. I only care about taking down that generator. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

King was a highly independent thinking Clone. Unlike most Clones who were engineered to obey commands and not be independent of one another, King was an anomaly. It made sense when Anakin considered that King had been part of the Commando program, who were bred for more independent thought. At least, he was before washing out due to an odd and substantial dip in his nearly flawless marks towards the end of his training.

King wasn't just more assertive of his independence on the battlefield, he was also capable to conducting independent operations on his own prerogative. Naruto had taught his Clones to be self-sufficient and granted them a great deal of autonomy on the battlefield. Some part of Anakin didn't think of King as just another Clone, but as his own individual person. Naruto's clones were unique, there was no doubt about that. They were nothing like the clones Anakin had seen. Perhaps that was what gave them such aptitude.

"Well, whatever the case may be, we still have a shield generator to destroy. Captain, do you think your troops can act as a distraction while King and I slip past them?" Anakin explained.

"Of course, sir. Men, set up defensive lines and get ready for a fight. We're going to challenge those clankers head on." Rex and his men roared, but King cleared his throat and brought out a holomap.

"If I may, Captain. Instead of launching a full-on attack, you could carry out sporadic attacks on the Separatist lines. Our heavy equipment can't approach them, the enemy is just dug in too deep, however, smaller units can launch precise attacks before slowly falling back to our lines while drawing the Separatist out in a more exposed position. This way we can maximize enemy casualties while minimizing our casualties." King proposed as Anakin hummed. He liked this plan a lot better, and he voiced his agreement before his Clones could protest King's unwelcome intrusion into their ranks.

As Rex began following through with King's operation, Anakin led the 497th through the snow along the West ridge, careful to stay out of sight of the Separatists' main force. They arrived at the generator to find it lightly guarded. Anakin sprang into action first, igniting his blue blade and cutting down the perimeter guard. A few brief scuffles inside the generator later, and the entire generator had been rigged with explosives.

"Rex, we're going now. Have your men at the ready." Anakin warned over the communicator. King only nodded, confident they were ready to take on anything the Separatists would send at them. With that, Anakin's thumb came crashing down on the trigger in a brief moment of triumph for the Republic.

 **With Aayla**

Aayla frowned as she ducked for cover as blaster fire went over her head. She hadn't been doing well before, but now her forces had been completely pinned down by heavy fire and they were in need of critical support. Aayla ran to a still burning AT-TE for cover as another salvo of the enemy's heavy cannons shelled the area around her. She nearly lost her footing when the last was came just a little too close.

"We have incoming, General!" One of the Clones shouted out. Another regiment of droids came over the ridge and began pelting the downed walker with fire.

"More incoming from above - wait, they're Republic!" the Clone pointed above as pink and grey interceptor dove into the atmosphere at high speeds, cannons blazing, towards the Separatist artillery. It was followed by a handful of V-19 fighters and a squadron group of PTB-625 bombers, similar pink markings on them as well.

"Siri?" Aayla questioned. Unless Master Windu had suddenly joined the battle, those color markings were only ever used by Tachi. Aayla was still perplexed by the as the fighter wasn't a Delta-7. No, it was much to fast and the glimpses that she caught of it didn't match the design. This was a new fighter, seemingly constructed solely for a Jedi to use. The new found air support started to relieve pressure on her forces. The starfighter started to blast away at Droid formations close to Aayla's position.

To make matters worse for the droids, the large explosion came from Skywalker's position and their heavier fortifications a bit further back were exposed to the bombers that began dropping their payloads. They had couldn't expose themselves to the headquarters AA guns for long, however, and were forced to turn back after only a few runs.

"Now's our chance. Advance!" Aayla ordered, as she and the rest of her forces began to push forward under the cover of Siri's air support. Despite their achievements in the war thus far, the 10th's starfighter capabilities was sorely lacking. Sure, General Jill and the 182nd Legion were capable, but even Naruto knew that the 10th's starfighter Corps wasn't on part with the rest of the Army, and that Siri was the glue holding them together. Aside from Anakin and Master Plo and Tiin, she was probably the best pilot in the order.

 **With Naruto**

"You're late." Fy-Tor-Ana commented, a bit annoyed. Naruto simply chuckled.

"Sorry but getting past the heavy flak was not easy. Though we avoided the worst." Naruto explained as the two Female Jedi's nodded at that.

"How long is it that I have to wait for my legion to get the same treatment as that Company?" Fy questioned, gesturing towards the 6th Company's fancy new armor. Naruto chuckled. Fy's legion was adept at carrying out large scale covert missions behind enemy lines and deep space battles.

"I put in a word for yours, but I don't know how long it will take to make that many sets of armor. Primary production is still mostly focused on warships and general military armament. Can't lag behind the Separatists." Naruto explained as Fy sighed.

"Shall we turn our attention back to the battle?" Que-Mars questioned as Naruto turned to look back towards the battle they were currently embroiled in. Naruto swept his blue blade through a cadre of B1s and it wasn't long until the area was secure. Naruto had made a last minute change, realizing he would need Fy's forces. The battle was raging on and the Republic was making some progress, but not enough. However, just then a large explosion rocked the area.

The officers all exchanged worried glances, but Serra was the first to spring into action. She immediately took to the icy cliffs, using the Force to climb them in a matter of seconds. Her limber body went through a series of flips and dives as she made her way to the summit. She saw the explosion to the West, and knowing that Anakin was in that area she came to a conclusion and shouted down to her comrades.

"I think... yeah, it looks like little Ani just took down one of the generators!" Serra commented as Naruto smiled. It seemed that Anakin had won this leg of their race, then. Sure enough, part of the Separatist lines had been exposed, and only a few minutes later the entire area was showered in turbolaser fire from above. Good, with one more down that should ease the pressure on the Republic forces.

"Our objective still stands. Serra, Fang, you two go ahead and scout the ravine. Fy, Que-Mars and I will be on standby once the ravine is cleared." Naruto laid out the plan. While the Clones did indeed have new armor for infiltration missions, its drawback was the power consumption. Without a large and bulky battery that would contradict the purpose of cloaking armor, the armor could only remain active for about twenty minutes. It was still experimental after all, and there was bound to be some design problems. This meant that they would have a window of twenty minutes to sneak in and destroy the generator. They would need to get closer to the fortress before using their armor.

"The battle is getting more intense. I can't believe how many droids the Separatists have here." Fy commented as the other's left. Naruto turned to look at the battle and slightly frowned. Due to the lose of some sections of the fortress, the Separatists were starting to deploy some of their heaviest field equipment and powerful Droids, some he hadn't even seen before.

"We'll pull through, after all, we 've been through worse." Naruto stated as Fy nodded. Naruto was one of the most seasoned Jedi Masters who had a very good grasp on war, strategy, and tactics. He had fought thought some of the hardest battles and important battles. From Fondor to Bestine and many others, if they could survive though that, then this would be just another battle they would have to win in the grand scale of things.

"We should those armors out. Make sure they don't fall on the troopers." Fy said as she walked up to the group of Clone troopers, making sure everything was all set. Naruto nodded as he too turned to see to the armors. They would be key to the survival of the Clones and the mission.

 **At the Separatist Base**

The Separatist commander frowned as he saw the large explosion to the Northwest. It wasn't long before a large section of the shield started to dissipate. In no time at all, Republic warships had turned their turbolasers toward the surface and begun bombarding the set of bunkers between them and his fortress. General Secura's pinned forces had also been saved by the unexpected swarm of starfighters, and now their famed Admiral had arrived.

Nothing was going as planned for Darth Tyrannus.

Dooku had been ordered to see to it that the Republic failed in taking Rhen Var and were turned back here. Having been informed by his Master well ahead of time, but they hadn't taken nearly as many losses as predicted. He had thrown everything he could at Naruto to delay the young general, hoping that he might only be facing General Kenobi in the end, but that strategy failed. He was reassured by Lord Sidious that Naruto would be delayed another way, but the boy had used a clever loophole to worm his way back into the action. Now, he was facing the full might of the 10th Army, plus Kenobi's famous 7th Sky Corps. He needed to fix this at once, but thankfully a backup plan was in place, and Dooku thought it was long past time to use his trump card. Activating his transmitter, he brought it closer to his bearded face.

"You may begin the counterattack. I expect no complications, and no distractions." He didn't wait for a reply before shutting the transmitter off, confident that the message had gone through. The Republic would soon be trapped, and losing those new ships would be ground to end the campaign. He turned around to another figure skulking in the shadows. Dooku made out the silhouettes sly smile and bow. He knew that his silent order to deploy had been received. Several droids followed his shadowed subordinate out of the command center.

His mission to assassinate Naruto Uzumaki would be finished this day.

 **With Naruto, Fy, and Que-Mars; One Hour Later**

"What's taking them so long?" Fy questioned as she and Naruto waited for the signal. A snowstorm had settled in a few minutes ago and the temperature was dropping. While this did provide cover against the Droids, they would not risk getting caught yet.

"Just wait a bit. They may not be quick, but they're capable." Naruto responded as he watched Siri in her new dull pink Actis-class interceptor in the skies above. Waiting about ten minutes for the signal, and did come the signal in the form of a green flare. Nodding to himself he stood up and turned to Fy and the rest of their forces.

"Alright, lets move in." Naruto ordered as they quickly began to make their way through the icy ravine.

"Why couldn't we just attack the main base from the North? There's nothing left defending it." Fy questioned in annoyance, the snow was starting to build up, hammering their movement.

"Because the Separatist base, Southwest from here, is built right into a mountain range. Between here and there it's a complete killzone. Their heavy guns would shred us to pieces. It's quite clever actually. The headquarters element is shielded by mountains to its South, leaving only the Northern approach open, but their bunkers protected that approach up until this point. Now we have to find a way around the fortress to get to the next objective." Naruto explained as Fy frowned.

"Then how are the Separatist able to ferry more Droids to the bunkers? We didn't see any convoys between the two." Fy pointed out as Naruto stopped for a second.

"That's…that's a good point." Naruto responded. Indeed, how were the Separatist transporting Droids between the two? He thought about that before their troops had finally made their way through and met up with Fang and Serra's scouting party.

"What took you so long?" Fy questioned Fang, who nearly stumbled over the rocks in his stride towards her and Naruto.

"You can't rush a good covert mission." Fang stated as Fy rolled her eyes. For a bunch of Clones they sure had vastly different personalities.

"Is the path clear?" Naruto questioned as Serra nodded.

"Yes sir. Cleared most of the Droids along the way. All that's left should be the next shield generator." Serra responded in quite the chipper manner. Naruto nodded before he turned to Fy.

"You know what to do." Naruto orders as Fy nods before taking off with her Legion. Naruto, Fang, Que-Mars, and Serra all walked into the generator complex. They were met with relatively light resistance. Most of the droids were probably out on the battlefield by now.

"The second this generator goes down the Separatists will know where I'm at and what my plan is." Que-Mars spoke to Fang, who nodded.

"And they're going to send heaps of Droids to find the problem. That's where General Fy's group ambushes them." Fang explained as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, now hand me those explosives." Naruto orders as Fang tossed them carelessly. After berating Fang for his brief moment of stupidity, Naruto played a short game of hot-potato with the explosives as the potato, before finally getting a grip on them. He quickly began to plant them all around the shield generator and smiled to himself.

"Let's go." Naruto orders as he and his lieutenants quickly made distance between themselves and the generator complex.

"You want to do the honors? You did kind of do all the work." Naruto asked Serra, holding out the detonator.

"With pleasure, Master Naruto." she responded eagerly, seizing the detonator with zeal. The explosives ripped through the generator complex, causing an even larger explosion to occur. The fireball reached high in the air and had definitely caught the attention of both Republic and Separatist forces. Now there were only three generators left.

It was barely ten minutes before Naruto saw the tens of thousands of battle droids that had been dispatched to engage them. He had a feeling his group wouldn't be taking care of anything anytime soon.

 **Onboard the** _ **Resolute**_

"Admiral, I have multiple enemy ships emerging from point nine three, distance eighty!" the Clone officer watching the sensor array reported to his commander.

"Get me an exact number and have Admiral Olander bring his fleet around!" Admiral Yularen ordered. The Clone comms officer responded with a 'yes, sir' and got to work. The other officer had started numbering the enemy ships and their classes but the words fell on deaf ears. Yularen had seen the fleet and their insignia, and a wave of terror washed over him.

It was the Confederate First Fleet in its entirety, and they had been positioned in such a way that having the Republic fleet retreat to hyperspace was impossible. They had expected Separatist reinforcements, surely, but not an entire fleet. The Republic was now trapped between the two Separatist fleets. Despite all this, what struck the most fear in the Admiral's heart was knowing who the commander of the Confederate First Fleet was.

 **Onboard the** _ **Usurper**_

"General, our shield are at full charge. The Republic fleet is outnumbered three-to-one." a B1 deckhand reported to his commander.

"Excellent. All batteries open fire on these fools that sought to stand in the way of our surprise attack." the mechanically-augmented voice ordered swiftly, his metal-clad feet clanking against the durasteel floor of the bridge. Having recently extended his cybernetic legs, General Grievous stood at his new towering height and stared down the orange-striped 10th Fleet that he recognized so well. He couldn't help but let out a malevolent cackle.

"This is payback for Bestine, Republic scum!" Grievous said with narrowed eyes as he let out a chuckle. It was time he showed them the lengths he would go to for their destruction.

 **So? How was it? Good? Bad? You decide! Original, we wanted to do this whole chapter into one, but it would have come out to be a monster, so we broke it into two parts, sort of. Anyways, a massive thanks to be Beta writer, he is the reason why these chapters get this large lol. Now, how about that Clone Wars Season 7? I cannot wait for it! I hope it's as good as the other seasons and we will most likely see the siege of Mandalore? That's what I have heard on reddit, but anyways, I cannot wait for it! See you all later! Bye!**


	19. Duels

***Jumps down, smiles* Hello there. How are you doing everyone? Good I hope! Sorry for this vary late updated, but as you can see, this chapter was no walk in the park, it wasn't, cause it was written on my laptop, in my room…anyways, here it is, chapter 19! Once more my beta reader/writer came through and helped me craft this wonderful piece of art! Now there might be a joke he threw in there about Obi-Wan, you'll see. Regardless, I hope you all enjoy this, oh and before I forget, there is this little troll running around in the reviews talking about some bullshit allegiance that's gonna bring me and other writers down. No clue what that means, but his reviews, which aren't even reviews, will be deleted. That is all, bye!**

 **Rhen Var System, On the bridge of the** _ **Usurper**_

The battle above planet raged on as the 1st Separatist Fleet had arrived to drive back the Republic forces and at the head of this counterattack was General Grievous and he was not going to take any prisoners.

"Focus fire on their center, break through their line and have our Destroyers encircle the remaining fleet! All Munificent frigates remain on standby" Grievous ordered as he narrowed his eyes. Even though he was definitely a greater asset on land, he was still the Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies, and thus had to be a competent naval commander as well. Count Dooku had the situation on the ground under control anyways. He would quickly crush this paltry, scattered fleet, and hopefully he would get the chance to take to the surface and slay some Jedi.

"Get me in contact with the 11th Fleet's commander, I need to coordinate our strategy with her, immediately." Grievous was hoping for a quick resolution to the battle above. He'd heard that blond brat from Bestine was leading the Republic on the surface, and he wanted to thank him for his new arm...personally.

 **Onboard the** _ **Sovereignty**_

As soon as he saw the large droid fleet exit hyperspace, Olander had ordered his ships to turn hard to port. It had put them in a poor position against the 11th Fleet, but he doubted their Commander would be able to exploit this brief moment of weakness and there was a much more pressing matter to deal with now. He too had recognized the Confederate 1st Fleet, which had proven to be a major threat to any Republic ships foolish enough to engage them. The situation of the battle had left much of the Fleet spread-out and with no solid central line.

 _"They were bait. Those clever bastards."_ Olander thought. It was rather odd how the remaining ships of the 11th Fleet were trying to avoid battle and trying to retreat in all directions. Considering the way the battle had went, they looked to be retreating and trying to draw him away to prevent further damage to their larger ships. He believed he had seen through their strategy and had pursued their main fleet instead of the larger ships, inflicting great damage on the 11th Fleet. It seemed that it was all just a ploy to spread them thin before the main force arrived. He frowned at that. If that was the case, then he had drastically underestimated the 11th's Commander. No, it would be more accurate to say that their commander had been showing them a false weakness.

"Have our fighters redirected to screen the front. Do not allow the Separatist fighters and bombers through." Olander ordered. His forces were more concentrated and the closest to the Separatist Fleet. Even though their numbers had started dwindling, his pilots were far superior to droids, they should be able to handle a few more vulture Droids.

"What about the Fleet sir?" An officer questioned as Olander hummed at that. He looked around, observing the others as their Fleets moved around, quickly re-organizing themselves to face the new threat. Jess and Tarkin had been on the front lines, fighting the initial battle 11th Separatist Fleet, however, with the arrival of Grievous and the 1st Fleet they would have no time to bring their ships around and the 11th fleet was beginning to reform from their feigned scatter. This also meant that the ground forces from here on out would have little to no support from above.

"Contact Zels, have his fleet full reverse and form up our right flank. He is to launch all fighters and have them engage the 1st fleet immediately. Jess and Tarkin will have to stay on defense against the 11th Fleet. Have them make sure they don't regroup and surround us." Olander ordered. Zels was closer to him than anyone aside from Yularen who was now slightly ahead of him on his left and as such he could quickly form up on his right and form a decent defense line.

"What about Admiral Ross and the new Victory-class cruisers?" The officer questioned again as Olander sighed. He wished he had human officers that could think for themselves unlike these garden variety Navy clones. Hell, he'd even take one of the Naruto's clones from the 497th. They were good men with good heads and enough sense to think straight. Perhaps Naruto could teach the officers to be more independent like his ground troops sometime.

Ross was too much of a prideful lone wolf to talk tactics with his fellow officers. Even Naruto's orders seldom reached the ears of Admiral Ross. Ross always was one to carry out his own independent operations. Turning his attention to the battlefield ahead, the Droid Fleet was ruthless, trying to push past the Republic Fleet by using overwhelming superiority of Droid fighters. One of Obi-wan's venators had begun to break apart from the 1st Fleet's rapid advance, so Wyle made a snap decision.

"Let him be. He knows what to do. I have faith in his abilities." he replied, hoping it was the right call to let Ross run free in a battle like this. The Officer nodded and relayed the message.

 _"They may have numbers, but we have superior pilots and those new warships. I only hope that our support vessels can make a formidable defense line along with the starfighters."_ Olander snarled through his teeth as another Venator, this time one of his own, exploded violently. Either the fuel injectors or the munitions depot had suffered a lucky turbolaser hit.

This would not be an easy battle.

 **Onboard the** _ **Spearhead**_

"Bring the ships around at once." Ross ordered in a hurry. His Fleet was positioned to face the planet and while they had expected a counterattack, Ross had only expected it to be roughly a fifth of this size. It made no sense. Rhen Var was nothing! It was just useless frozen rock in their path. It had no strategic value.

 _"No, they created its strategic value. Rhen Var was an unlosable gambit. By fortifying the planet and holding a sizable fleet in orbit here. They planned to launch a counter-offensive and cut off any Republic forces that pushed further in. We didn't, so now we're fighting the same battle that would've been fought on a more valuable planet like Felucia on a useless rock like Rhen Var."_ He thought as he narrowed his eyes. The Separatists had chosen the fields they wanted to fight on and exploited the situation well.

"Sir, General Kenobi just lost a Venator!" An officer shouted hastily before another reported Olander had lost one of his as well. Ross' fist tightened. The Separatist attack, while simple, was a ruthless barrage towards their center line that had cut through Obi-wan's poorly positioned fleet. The Recusant destroyers were high speed vessels that excelled at bypassing Republic forces. The left flank of the Republic lines was getting pushed back further and further. Until Zels had filled in the gap, likely under Olander's orders. The right was hold on and the center was doing excellent in hold back the enemy. That was what Ross had been waiting for.

If Ross was being given full reign to do as he pleased, then he was going to make damn good use of it.

"Have all ships drop to position five-oh, directly below the center. Dorsal batteries to full power and focus fire on those frigates. Their armor should be no match for heavy guns." Ross ordered as the Fleet began to carry out his order. By positioning his flotilla directly below Olander's, he would be able to use all of his heavy batteries positioned on top of Victory. The Star Destroyers moved like clockwork. Ross opted to only use human officers - old comrades from his days as a pirate hunter - and relegated Clones to operating the gun batteries. It wasn't that he had a problem with Clones, he simply knew these men and was able to utilize them well.

"Sir, we are in position!" An officer shouted as Ross allowed a smirk on his face.

"Fire first salvo, Dreadnaught cruisers are to follow up by a barrage of Ion cannons to disable what survives." Ross ordered as the batteries moved into position before unleashing a torrent of heavy fire from below. Four of the Separatist frigates were directly hit, causing explosions to ripple through their center before exploding and splitting in two. As the Separatist began to react to this new threat, most of the ships had their systems quickly disabled as the Ion barrage did its work.

"Sir, enemy destroyers are jumping out of hyperspace and are moving into position behind us!" Ross blinked at that as he looked straight on and frowned. It seems that the Separatists loved holding small vessels in reserve. A good strategy considering how fragile most of their Fleet was. However, Separatists destroyers were anything but fragile. These ones seemed to be under the banner of the 11th Fleet, however. Ross decided to move his ships forward and let Jess and Tarkin deal with the new ships.

 **Onboard the** _ **Puerility**_

Jess was doing whatever it took to prevent the 11th fleet from breaking through her line. She had at first managed to push back some of the smaller Separatist ships back quite a bit, but the feigned retreat of their capital ships had allowed them to come back with a vengeance, using aggressive tactics to push past her Fleet and flank Wyle's rear. She wasn't about to let that happen and quickly ordered her Fleet on a small and spread retreat towards the planet.

"Captain Strough, the _Starlight_ is severely damaged!" A Clone shouted, pointing at a Venator that was critically damaged, most likely beyond repair. She gritted her teeth at that.

"Evacuate at once!" She ordered. The Venator might be beyond saving, but the crew wasn't, and hell if she would let them die. Turing her attention straight ahead, she narrowed her eyes towards the Providence cruiser that Jess had pinned as being the 11th's command ship. But there was one obstacle in her way to launching an assault on the command craft. Barring straight down at her was a Lucrehulk and it seemed to be far more heavily armed than the ones earlier in the war and would be nearly impossible to take down alone. That was when she formed a plan.

"Do we have any functional Droids on-board the _Starlight?_ " She questioned her officers.

"We might have a few." An officer responded as Jess nodded and quickly began to explain her plan. With the ship evacuated, the Separatist would quickly ignore it and go for targets that were still fighting, it was a common Droid tactic. After all, why waste time on an abandoned ship that was on the verge of exploding any minute now? She would then order a steady retreat once more, pulling the Droids further in and past the _Starlight_ and once it was behind them the ship would be quickly maneuvered into position before being rammed right into the core ship.

"Will that even work?" An officer questioned as Jess shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe it will or maybe it won't, but we have to do something." She answered as the others nodded. If that Lucrehulk could be destroyed, they could restabilize their part of the frontline, pushing the enemy back. With that said, the plan was quickly set in motion.

 **Onboard the** _ **Negotiator**_

"I must say, Naruto's officers are quite effective." Obi-Wan commented as Yularen's hologram nodded. Olander was a well-respected man even before the Clone Wars and that didn't change when the war began. His proficiency in starfighter tactics was so great Obi-Wan wondered if the man had experience with the starfighter corps.

"Sir, Admiral Yularen's forward line is breaking!" An officer reported as Obi-Wan frowned at this. He had just lost a Star Destroyer and others had been seriously damaged. This was not good news.

"Sir, with you permission I would like to recall our fighters from the surface to assist us." Yularen advised from the _Resolute_ as Obi-Wan nodded. The Separatist Fleet had pushed his back quite a bit and most of it was due to not having enough fighters to counter the swarms of incoming bombers and fighters.

"Yes, you're right. I hope that Anakin doesn't need any more help." Kenobi commented. He would no longer be able to provide support without risking the Fleet, and with that the last of the Republics fighters were recalled back to space. As he observed the changing battlefield thanks to the aid of Siri's squadron, he sighed in relief. While the flanks were somewhat pushed back, the center was holding strong and was able to hold back the Separatist onslaught.

"Admiral Olander seems to have the situation under control on his part, and Admiral Marck is holding up the left quite well. Admiral -" Yularen was silenced as one of Ross' ships had begun ascending into a better position to defend Yularen's weakening line. Staying just out of the effective range of Greivous' turbolasers. Ross and Wyle had both saved the entire from Grievous' surprise attack in a matter of moments. They weren't out of the woods yet, but for now, Obi-wan could breathe again.

Then suddenly, a huge explosion rocked the ship. After the damage report was given as an all clear, Obi-wan understood it wasn't a hit on his flagship, but it felt like some sort of shockwave had come from behind.

 **Onboard the** _ **Usurper**_

Grievous was growing more and more impatient by the second. His initial assault had proven to be effective, pushing the Republic Fleets back, however, the center of the Republic lines proved to be difficult and more so with those new ships expertly weaving into the collapsing lines from below to delay his advance further. The 11th's Commander had already called in the last of their destroyers in reserve, so Grievous spat out the order to draw back the advance to prevent his own center from being completely wiped out.

"What's the situation with this delay, Captain?! Their fleet isn't even half the size of ours! They should be debris by now." Grievous snapped with a loud growl, quickly getting tired of this drawn out fight. He was supposed to crush the Republic Fleet and lift the siege on Rhen Var, but instead he was encountering swift and decisive resistance with every move he made. Even though he was capable in Naval combat, he was no expert.

"Uhm, sir, we've just lost one of our capital ships." A Droid reported as Grievous eyes slightly widened, turning his attention to the 11th's sole Lucrehulk that was exploding violently. There was a whole army of Droids on that ship and now it was nothing more the floating space junk! What was that foolish woman doing allowing the Republic's rear line to take out one of their greatest assets?

 **Onboard the** _ **Superior**_

The air on the bridge of the superior was so dense one couldn't possibly cut it with a knife. Perhaps a lightsaber would do the trick, but nothing would stop the unrelenting fury radiating from their Commander. She had done well on Geonosis, managing to amass a large group under her command and stall the Republic's advance in her direction. But ever since she had started doing battle with the 10th Army and their damned Admiral, she had faced only humiliation and defeat. The red-eyed, blue-skinned Chiss General again felt that deep hatred, frowning as she witness the destruction of the 11th Fleet's last Lucrehulk, _her_ Lucrehulk.

"G-General Tann" the Neimoidian Captain whimpered out, only continuing when he noticed the General's glare wasn't as intimidating as he first thought. "COMSCAN indicates that all systems aboard the _Obstructor_ are not responding. The vulture droids linked to its signal are beginning to shut down." the bit of courage he had found quickly faded as Tann pounded her fist onto a nearby control panel.

"This is unacceptable." She said to herself calmly. Her ploy had drawn in the Republic fleet, but why hadn't she and Grievous succeeded in trapping them wholly? That Admiral Darahan had held back his ships, managing to see though her ploy in time to prevent the encirclement. She needed to do something fast to claim victory against the Republic or else this would be another failure that Dooku would not tolerate. She was still the leader of the Dark Acolytes, and she feared what fate awaited her should she suffer another loss.

Sev'rance Tann had already been demoted once, she would not suffer that same humiliation a second time.

 **Onboard the** _ **Usurper**_

" _I have no idea what Count Dooku sees in that foolish woman."_ Grievous thought to himself, partially blinded to her capabilities by his own conceit. In the beginning, Tann had been Supreme Commander, not he. It was only due to Tann's failing to destroy the Fondor Shipyards that Grievous had been given a chance at the position. The Chiss General argued that it was because Wat Tambor's tactical droid had fumbled miserably, but his failure was her failure according to Dooku.

Grievous was torn out of his mental tirade by one of his Providence-cruisers breaking in two and careening towards the planet's surface. The Republic had somehow managed to turn around the Droid army's surprise counterattack and put them on the defensive as Grievous found himself also pulling back his ships. Frustrated with this new development, Grievous smashed a nearby B1 bridge operator and howled his next order with fury.

"Redirect bombers to bombard the enemy forces on ground!" Grievous commanded with a certain degree of desperation in his voice. Having used the B1 as an example, the droids quickly got to work avoiding the same fate. While this might seem an order given out of rage, it was a carefully calculated move. The Republic had withdrawn all air support and their troops were still out in the open plains. Sending his bombers down would force the Republic Fleet to send more fighters below, hampering their efforts in space and allowing Grievous to continue his mad, relentless assault.

"Roger. Roger." The Droids complied in a panic, sending commands to the Droid bombers who quickly broke off from their original Venator target before diving down at an extreme angle, heading straight towards the planet. Grievous let out a brief cackle.

 **With Anakin and Aayla, Near the Fourth Shield Generator**

The two Jedi Knights had been making excellent and had began their advance towards the fourth Generator with elements of the 497th Legion as reinforcement bringing up the rear.

"Without Naruto's timely arrival we would have suffered much heavier losses. It surprises me he's such a capable tactician. Usually one has to be... smart... for something like that." Aayla asked rhetorically and Anakin only shook his head. Credit where credit was due and with Naruto's foresight to alter their strategy had proven highly effective. The Republic had gone from barely hanging on to knocking on the door of the Separatist headquarters.

Not to mention when he destroyed the third generator, the primary focus of the Droid army had shifted to Naruto's, allowing Anakin and Aayla to continue their advance to the next generator. Unfortunately, they had run into a heavily defended ledge that had complete control over the surrounding area.

"Let's hope that this Separatist Fleet will be as easy for them to deal with as the first one." Anakin replied. If the Separatist were to lift the siege, then the ground forces would be in even greater danger. All the Separatists would have to do is land behind them and encircle them to finish them off, and Anakin wasn't in the mood for a months long game of cat-and-mouse geurilla warfare.

"Incoming!" A Clone shouted as he pointed above as Droid bombers dropped their ordinances on the exposed AT-OT transports, completely obliterating them and killing the Clones inside. However, that wasn't the last of their worries as tri-fighters descended upon them as well, carrying out strafing runs at the exposed and disabled transports.

"What happened to our air support?" Anakin questioned as he jumped out of his transport and underneath it to avoid the blaster fire, many of the Clones did the same as the transports pushed forward under heavy fire and to make matters worse the Separatists fortress began to open up fire as well. This was some conundrum. Stay near the transports and get strafed by tri-fighters or spread out and slowly fall to the long range cannons.

"Being attacked from above and the front. This is turning out to be a fine mess of a battle." Aayla commented as she deflected some blaster fire from the fortress. Anakin grunted as he too deflected incoming fire. They needed air support and they needed it fast or else the entire Republic attack force would be wiped out.

 **With Ross on the** _ **Spearhead**_

 _"The Separatist are attacking our surface troops by employing bombers and now tri-fighters. I would move to assist, but I am a bit tied down."_ Tarkin spoke as his hologram faded slightly before reappearing. Ross frowned at this news. Tarkin was with Jess dealing with the 11th Fleet and they were locked in a very heated battle. There was no way either of them could provide air support.

"I'll do what I can, for now focus on the Droid Fleet." Ross stated as Tarkin nodded before the transmission was cut. Taking a thinking pose, Ross thought of what to do. Their V-19s were

"Have command of our Victory cruisers transferred as followed: the _Crusader_ to Zels, the _Consternation_ to Tarkin, and the _Aurora,_ Jess. Have all of the Venators under my command transferred to Olander." Ross ordered as everyone looked at him, confused.

"But, what about us sir?" A Clone officer questioned. They couldn't deal with the remaining Destroyers ahead of them alone.

"We will be providing surface aid the ground forces. The ships in range to follow us are already heavily damaged and will not, unless they plan to be destroyed." Ross reasoned as everyone nodded at that. The last wave of frigates that had jumped in to try and distract him had come out of hyperspace too close to the Republic fleet and were promptly dealt with. The counterattack had mostly been dealt with and, despite having the Republic having lost five Venators already, Grievous would most likely need to retreat if his gambit on the ground didn't pay off, which considering Ross had seen through the cyborgs plan to draw V-19s back to the surface and then ambush them with the tri-fighters he also sent down. But an entire Star Destroyer would not fall victim to such a maneuver.

"Prepare the ship for atmospheric reentry." As this mind-boggling order was received by the rest of the fleet, everyone had opened a holocomms line with him, fully believing the man had gone crazy.

 _"Ross, have you gone mad?! No ship of that size can maintain altitude in a planet's atmosphere!"_ The hologram of Olander appeared with a look that said it all. While the gravitational pull of a planet wasn't a problem for lighter and smaller ships like the CR90 corvette or even the Acclamator frigate, it was something one had to consider for bulk cruisers. They could take off and land from a planet's surface if absolutely necessary, but their greater weight meant that maintaining altitude often caused too much strain on their durasteel supports, and the front of the ship would eventually buckle after a few minutes of maintained altitude. So it was typical for any ship destroyer sized or above to stay in a planet's high orbit range and board drydocks for repairs rather than risk breaking themselves in two.

 _"I agree with Ol' Olander. This is a foolish move. Between the pressure of the thrusters and its own weight the ship is going to snap in two before it explodes into a spectacular fireball. You'll just get yourself killed."_ Jess's hologram appeared as well, and she did not look pleased. She had just started to push the Droid Fleet back on her part and was told that she was giving the command of a new vessel, only to find out that the commander of the Fleet had chosen to split his Fleet and had the stupid idea of taking the ship right on top of the Separatist fortress.

"My faithful companion, you're showing your age with that kind of outdated thinking. Have you forgotten that technology is always improving?" That was all Ross said as the two Fleet commanders rolled their eyes at that. The Venator was also a brand new ship and they didn't have that capability, how could Rendili StarDrive have come up with such a feature only a few months later? Had he finally gone mad with the power of these new ships? They had plenty of heavy cannons but bigger wasn't always better.

 _"Do whatever you want, Ross._ _ **We**_ _have a Fleet to fight. Hope your death is as painful as your plan is stupid."_ Jess stated as he cut the transmission. Let it be known that she tried to stop this foolish move. Olander opted to only shake his head.

 _"You kids are going to be the death of me. I hope your plan somehow works, Ross, but don't expect me to show up at your funeral."_ He commented as Ross let out a small chuckle at that. Truly, the old man was the grandfather of the whole Sector Army.

As the ship began to feel the pull of gravity, the thrusters were sent into full reverse. His ship began to enter the planet's atmosphere at blinding speed with fire starting to build up at the button, but the ship held strong as the shields and heat sinks got to work. Before they knew it they had cleared the clouds and descended to low orbit. The Victory-class Star Destroyer was built to fill two roles that the Venator and Acclamator just couldn't fill. That of a heavy warship and low orbit naval support. Ross grinned as the stupefied faces of Aayla, Anakin, and their Clones looked up in awe at the Admirals display of force.

"Open all missile pods and target those bunkers. Prepare full salvo." Ross barked out in a slight rush. The bridge crew quickly began to follow through with their orders in a slight rush as well. In only a minute the hidden side flaps of the Victory had opened up, revealing its substantial payload of explosive ordinence. Ross next order was softly spoken, but carried with it the weight of a monarch.

"Wipe these pathetic droids off the face of this planet."

And then, the icy skies of Rhen Var were filled with fire.

 **With Depa and the 108th Corps**

"Go!" Depa shouted as she charged forward, diving right into the line of Droids as the Clones followed her lead. Currently, she was holding back a horde of Droids at the West Ridge. The order had come down from Obi-wan for her to launch an attack on the next generator just beyond the West ridge. After receiving the news that Anakin's advance towards the fourth generator had been forstalled by the arrival of the Separatist's main army, Depa had launched an attack the proved to be the folly of her battle group, as the Separatists had somehow managed to supply even more droids to the southwestern front.

Depa had taken notice of the massive warship, nearly a kilometer long, now hovering in low orbit above the planet. It would seem that the Victory cruiser had been designed for atmospheric combat. That didn't bold well for the Separatists. What made matters worse for them was the earth-shattering barrage of concussion missiles by the dozen. This new development had seemingly startled the Droid's commander, and the hordes of metal had begun pulling back towards the defensive lines near the generator complex.

"Let's go crazy!" Depa sighed as she heard one of her Clone Commanders, Ballistic, once again literally go ballistic against the retreating. Ballistic was an odd Clone and the closest clone she could relate to him was Storm of the 497th, but even then it was stretching it. He thrived on the battlefield, full of adrenaline, he would tear though whatever foe that was presented to him with his twin light repeaters.

She greatly appreciated his enthusiasm on a different level, though, as the Droid army had almost completely encircled three of her legions against the West ridge in their tactical retreat. Ballistic and his legion were holding a poorly placed line in the face of overwhelming odds with all their might.

"Push forward!" She shouted, a second wind flowing across the battlefield as Depa and her forces pushed the Droids back. If they took the west ridge for the Republic and destroyed the shield generator, Anakin's battle group would no longer be caught in a crossfire between the droids on southeast ridge and those she was facing.

 **With Olander on the** _ **Sovereignty**_

"I can't believe the son of a bitch did it." Olander was in awe of his viewscreen. The Separatists' forward position had been completely annihilated, leaving Anakin and Aayla's army with little left to fight.

"It's likely the innovative design of the ship. Admiral Darahan was quite gutsy in choosing to attempt this tactic in a combat scenario." Tarkin weighed in. He was impressed by Ross' gumption and the capabilities of the new Star Destroyer variant. He would have to organize a meet with the Chancellor to share his own ideas for the Star Destroyer line.

"Still, that thing is going to get torn to shreds by their bombers and tri-fighters, and it looks like Grievous is sending even more fighters to stop him." Olander gestured towards the group of destroyers and frigates that Ross had evaded with his bold descent and the swarm of Vulture droids escorting them. He opened a comm channel to Siri's squadron and ordered her to head towards the planet's surface after the Separatist's second wave. It would be well worth it if Siri and Ross could take out half a dozen Confederate support ships. That was when the Captain of the _Conquest_ again gave his two credits of advice.

"A wise move to send General Tachi, Admiral, but I feel that might be unnecessary." Olander furled his brow in confusion. Ross had descended to the surface without any fighters. Tarkin returned the look, but his was accompanied by a twinge of disappointment. "Don't tell me you didn't notice Ross hasn't yet deployed his fighter compliment." Tarkin also pointed out that none of the Victory cruisers had scrambled the new line of Incom Corporation starfighters that were in their hangar bays.

 **With Piell and the Rear Guard**

The scarred and stout Jedi Master frowned as he along with his forces pushed towards the newly overextended center of the Separatist lines. He was in shock after Ross had launched dozens of concussion missiles at the heavily defended Separatist emplacements. It was then that Ross debuted another feature of the new Victory cruiser: the ability to deploy modular outposts from low orbit. These bases allowed Anakin's forces to quickly and effectively set-up a small encampment right in the middle of the vast snowy plains, giving them protection from the superior Droid fortress and numerous waves of droids.

"Take a platoon of Clones and attack the enemy's flank. Claw company will then distract them while an attack from the right will begin a breakaway skirmish. Afterwards, the main body of the 68th Legion will move forward through the emerging gap in the droid lines." Wiz ordered as Piell took notice of the leader of Brains Company, which had transferred from the 497th after Geonosis to take command of the entire 68th Tactical Legion. Truth to the company's name, Wiz was an uncanny strategist whose plans came together like magic. He was one of the few clones Naruto considered invaluable to the 10th Army, as Naruto himself was no strategist. He, along with Piell, Fox, and King, were capable commanders and tacticians, yes, but superior tactics alone often wouldn't win a battle. Wiz's strategies were often detailed down to single key fireteams performing precise and timely coordinated strikes.

"Are you sure that it is wise?" Piell asked, probing to see what the Clones strategy was.

"The enemy's right flank is lacking in protection, so we must presume that it is a common bait and switch tactic to lure our forces in. By making it seem we are falling for their maneuver, the enemy will quickly shift forces from the front to the right to secure it. That is when your platoon will quickly push through the weakened right flank with a much larger force behind thing. This will allow us to encircle the center and quickly crush it." Wiz explained while keeping his full attention to the battlefield. Piell nodded at that. Rather than a concentrated attack down center, Wiz was creating multiple points of attack, most of them feints with only a few true advances. These attacks would accumulate into a one single push to utterly break the Droid lines, as if multiple cracks were exposed to water, breaking it from inside out.

 **With Naruto's Team**

Naruto cursed as he dodged incoming fire. He, along with a few Jedi's and Clones, were able to destroy one of the shield generators, but in the process they had been discovered. Now they had to fight their way back to their frontlines. Looking up, he saw one of the ships that Ross had brought providing as much air cover as it could, but even that was starting to work against them. The Separatists were sending more and more Tri-Fighters down to the surface to use their heavy blasters to deal heavy casualties to the Republic.

"Ross' vessel probably can't take much more. The Separatist have already turned their heavy ground batteries against it." Fy stated as she pointed at some Separatist positions still protected by a shield Generator. If Ross stayed here for too long his ship would begin to suffer damage, but instead, Ross had launched two dozen of the new model starfighters from his hangar and they began engaging the tri-fighters in a dogfight. Slowly but surely, the large six-winged heavy starfighters began to pull ahead thanks to their rear gunners mowing down any droid fighters silly enough to try chasing after their shiny new ARC-170.

"Actually, I think it will be just fine." Naruto reassured his fellow Jedi. Who glanced back at him curiously before returning to the thick of it. "Think about it, those anti-air cannons are intended for dropships, transports, and light support craft. They're not meant to damage something as armored as even a _regular_ Star Destroyer, and I've read up on the Victory-class, they're even more tough than the Venators." Naruto explained his theory, and true enough, the Victory stood strong. "Enough digressing, we have to refocus. We still have those Droids to worry about." Naruto pointed out towards the vast ranks of B1 Battle Droids heading their way.

"We need air support over here." Serra stated as she activated her two green sabers and began to deflect the incoming fire. The other Jedi followed her example, each igniting their own green sabers. But Naruto ignored the droids, and instead scanned the skies above. As he did so, he saw a group of four tri-fighters engaging a lone 170. Closing his eyes, Naruto extended his hand towards the dogfight above, reaching out further with the force before he suddenly jerking his hand downwards, pulling each of the fighters off the clone pilot's tail in one motion, sending them crashing into the hordes of steel in front of them. The pilot thanked his General by blasting another formation of droids into oblivion.

 _"Does... does that count as air support?"_ Serra wondered.

"Now let's show these Droids how to fight." Naruto commented as he grabbed his new lightsaber. It was an electrum-plated one with the signature golden finish starting on the hilt and rising in two thick columns up to the emitter. Between the columns of gold, orange paint formed a spiral pattern along the hilt. As Naruto again activated his new lightsaber. The color was the darker side of blue compared to other blades. More like the color of blaster fire from a DC-15a rifle than your average lightsaber. Any lightsaber made with electrum was an expensive one to build, as the metal was rare to find. Within the Jedi order, only Jedi Master's were allowed to use electrum in the construction of their elegant weapon. Letting out a war cry, Naruto charged right into the Droids, cutting through them with extreme speed and ability.

 _"Dodge, deflect, cut, cut, dodge."_ His thoughts were almost subconscious, guided by the Force as he carried out the motions as he downed countless Droids who stood no chance against his superior speed. He was barely even showing up on their sensors. Even to his fellow Jedi his blazing fast Form IV movements were hard to follow. Naruto kept up his assault for several minutes, when suddenly his eyes slightly widened as he flipped backwards, narrowly missing a pair of red lightsabers. Narrowing his eyes he quickly jumped back a bit to make distance between him and the unknown enemy, however, when he got a look of his opponent's pale white skin his eyes narrowed as he recomposed himself.

"Asajj Ventress…" Naruto said as his said opponent smirked warmly, a trait Naruto found annoying that the Dathomirian had no doubt picked up from her master.

"If it isn't Master Uzumaki, I figured you would be here." Ventress commented as Naruto frowned. Her hair was no longer present on her head, leaving her bald with some tattoos along her eyes and lips. She was a Jedi Padawan to Ky Narec, a Jedi Knight that was stranded on Rattatak. Naruto had been sent there to retrieve the Jedi Knight, only to find that he had taken up a Padawan and had chosen to stay on the planet to train the young Dathomirian girl.

"Your Master must be disappointed to see how far you have fallen." Naruto commented, ready to engage in combat as Ventress smirk slightly turned down into a frown.

"My Master is dead, and soon you will be too." She replied, causing Naruto to sigh. So the loss of her Master is potentially what caused her to fall? Now was not the time to think that, however. He turned his attention to Ventress once more as she too readied herself. She knew that her opponent was far more skilled and experienced. However, before she could engage Naruto, Serra had stepped in her path and blocked the twin red blades with her green ones.

"We'll take care of her Naruto, you go and meet up with the main force." Fy stated, her saber at the ready as Serra strained against Ventress' fierce saberlock. Naruto looked at the two before nodding.

"Very well, but I want both of you to be alive, understood?" Naruto demanded of them as the two smiled at that, knowing that such a decision was not an easy one for Naruto.

"Oh don't worry, we'll make it out alive. You just focus on taking care of the Generator." Serra grunted as she pushed Ventress back. Naruto nodded again before he used the force to sprint towards the frontlines. Ventress attempted to give chase but was once again blocked, this time by Fy.

"You are our opponent." Fy stated as Ventress scowled, before fixing her face into a sly grin. She would show these foolish Jedi that Sith were the better warriors.

 **With Naruto**

Naruto was rapidly making progress in his mad dash to the Western battlefront, cutting Droid after Droid and leaping across the battlefield and it didn't take him long before he could finally see Republic forces in the distance from his position under the shadow of Ross' new flagship. Sending out a large Force shockwave, sending a large amount of Droids flying back as he quickly made his way to the stalled Republic lines.

"It's the General!" He heard a Clone from the 497th shout out as the Clones all looked towards him as he came running in.

"General." He looked around and saw King, along with Wiz walking up to him.

"Boy aren't you sight for a sore eyes." Naruto commented as the two Clones chuckled at that. Fang had contacted them a few minutes ago, telling them the situation and that they had separated from the General.

"Well, it's good to see you all doing well, but we got a long road ahead of us." King stated as Naruto nodded before he turned to Wiz.

"Where's Master Piell?" Naruto questioned as Wiz stood at attention.

"Master Piell ask me to assist with the main assault while he brings up the center line." Wiz answered as Naruto raised an eyebrow. Master Piell was bringing up the rear guard in the last report, but it seems like he switched strategy, letting a much larger force break through the center and the main objective.

"Naruto?" The said blond Jedi raised an eyebrow as he heard a familiar voice call out his name and sure enough there was Aayla.

"Well, good to see that you're doing fine." Naruto commented with a chuckle as the female Jedi rolled her eyes at that. Even in the thick of it he was so carefree.

"I hate to interrupt, but we have a battle to attend to." Anakin stated as he approached the group, causing Naruto to nod.

"He's right, what's the situation?" Naruto ordered, acting like the General he was. Wiz was the one who stepped forward and began the report.

"Sir, our forces have the shield Generator in our sights South of our position just over the ridge. However, it is defended by two heavily manned lines of trench defense. The first line consists of a mix of light and heavy bunkers, behind that is a second line where the heavy artillery and equipment is located. We need to break through the fight line in-order to reach the second" Wiz explained as Naruto hummed.

"We need to punch through while the Separatists are still of-balance." Anakin reasoned as Naruto shook his head. While it might be effective, it would not be sound as of this moment.

"They might be confused, but those positions are no joke. We need to do what we do best, small scaled attacks across their line and keep them on the backfoot." Naruto stated as Wiz nodded.

"While attacking in smaller groups we can expose their weak points and use small, but large attack groups to push through." Wiz finished as Naruto nodded. Wiz, while his strategies were very similar, were quite effective and he had yet to find an opponent that would force him to use a different tactics given how linear Droid strategies were, most of them anyways.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's do this!" Naruto shouted as he quickly took the to field once more as king shook his head but followed after his General. Wiz stayed behind, opting to coordinate the attacks to their maximum efficiency.

"You know, it's pretty rare to find a Clone who doesn't choose to fight." Anakin commented as Wiz stopped and thought over that. True, Clones were bred for war, they were made to fight. Every last single one of his brothers was able to fight effectively, even the officers. However, he liked the more…gamelike and strategic aspect of the battle. He enjoyed commanding his forces in the invisible battle between masterminds and had it not been for Naruto, who had allowed such a talent to grow, he would have been just another Clone.

"You'll find that much of the 497th and its migratory parts of the 10th army are, what our creators called us, independent thinkers. If anyone's to blame for this outcome, it's the General. Not that I'm complaining. By giving his legion a free-flowing command structure, he has brought out the best in most of his troops. Myself being a good example." Wiz responded pridefully. The amount of freedom the 10th army enjoyed was quite radical. They operated very differently than other Sector Armies.

 _"Perhaps that's what makes us the best."_ Wiz thought to himself. Yes, an army where soldiers were given more freedom and encouraged to act independent of one another allowed for lower casualties in blood battles. Not like the Separatists where every order was hardwired into your programming, and not like other Clone legions where obedience was so highly prized.

"I see." Anakin merely responded. He would keep this knowledge in mind. Perhaps a similar structure in the 501st would yield superior results. Not that he had any problems with the way his Legion operated, but why not improve where you can? With that thought in mind, Anakin headed to the front.

 **With Olander**

"Sir, we are holding back the Separatists, but the flanks aren't doing so well." An officer reported as Lander slightly frowned. The Center was holding strong and Yularen managed to finally push up to meet his Fleet and started to mount a strong defense, but the Separatists were still greater in number.

"What about Ross?" Olander questioned. A group of Separatist Frigates and a Destroyer had managed to break though the right flank and headed towards the surface. Ross would be severely outnumbered and outgunned, even with his new vessel.

"No word, sir." The officer reported as Olander sighed. Not only was Ross most likely stuck engaging the enemy Fleet on the surface, his communications were also being jammed. A typical strategy the Separatists liked to use along with their swarm like tactics. All he could do was hold them back and allow them to waste their resources to weaken them.

 **With Ross**

Ross frowned as he saw a small Fleet, about four Munificents and a Recusant-Class Destroyer, enter the atmosphere of the planet, intent on engaging him and sure enough the rain of turbo blasters began as the Separatist Fleet split up as the Destroyer kept its cross dead ahead.

"Sir, those frigates are trying to surround us!" An officer stated as Ross nodded at that. The Republic's ships had one glaring weakness, the fear. Due to the design of the ships, all power and shield were optimized for frontal attacks. However, Ross would not let an enemy best him once more.

"Target that frigate at point three nine with a second volley of Concussion missiles from the starboard side, and don't let up our heavy turbolaser fire. Focus shield on the dorsal side to avoid damage from that Destroyer." Ross ordered. By knocking out the frigates first, he would destroy this small fleet's mobility and by bolstering the shield on his underside he could negate much of the Droid Destroyers incoming fire. He would make this quick and easy for the ground troops.

 **With Naruto**

"Sure could use some air support about now, Ross." Naruto commented as he and Aayla kept on deflecting incoming fire from the Droid positions. They had managed to destroy the shield Generator by using an AT-TE, but the Droid positions far behind the Generator opened up, revealing more heavy weaponry. This once again pinned down the Republic advance.

"This layered defense system that the Separatists are using is quite the challenge." Aayla added as Naruto nodded. This was one of the few times he had saw such a sophisticated level of defense and planning from the Droids. Looking up, Naruto smiled as Siri's fighter flew high above, followed by her squadrons, however, at that moment she flew into the range of the Separatist's anti-air bunkers. Even her superior starfighter wasn't able to evade the flak for long. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw smoke trailing her starfighter before it began to spiral towards the ground.

 _"She isn't too far away."_ Naruto told himself. _"If I go now, I can save her. I wouldn't even be away for that long."_ Naruto's racing mind hesitated for only the briefest of moments, but rescuing Siri had immediately become his top priority.

"Skywalker! Take charge! King, bring your best men. On me!" Naruto ordered as he quickly made his way to the impending crash sight, ignoring Anakin's request to wait.

 **With Siri**

"D-Dammit." Siri coughed out as she opened her eyes. Looking up, she blinked. It seemed that she had survived the crash. Her cockpit was a mess as sparks flew everywhere and smoke covered the whole cockpit as she used the Force and pushed the cockpit open.

"Siri!" She heard a familiar voice as she looked around to see where it was coming from and sure enough it was Naruto.

"Naruto?" She questioned before she remembered where she was.

 _"That's right, I crashed."_ She thought, her memory quickly back as Naruto came to a halt in front of her with a concerned look on his face.

"Are you ok?" Naruto questioned her as she nodded, still disoriented from the crash.

"Are you sure?" Naruto questioned again, concerned that she might have some sort of injury. However, Siri shook her head.

"I'm fine." She said firmly as she wiped of some dust and applied medical ointment to the shallow cuts on her arm and shoulders cause by the shattered glass. Naruto observed her movements, making sure that she was still battle capable before nodding.

"Alright then, sis, since you're on the ground now, you might as well help us take out one of these generators." Naruto remarked, briefly wondering once again as to why the Separatists insisted on having so many redundant generators. Siri nodded before looking at her holomap of the battlefield. Looking around the map, she took notice Serra and Fy's legions were mopping up the droids to the Southeast.

"I'll head back to take command of their legions to the south and meet up with Master Billaba's advance force. We should be able to begin an assault on the fifth Generator pretty soon." Siri pointed out as Naruto nodded. She hadn't crash landed too far from the frontlines, and it didn't take that long or much resistance to arrive at her location. Naruto nodded as he glanced over Siri's body, making certain that she was alright. Her adrenaline subsiding, Siri began to realize just how cold it was in the open air of Rhen Var, she went to a nearby clone to requisition some winter gear.

"Sir, General Kenobi has taken to the field with the rest of the 7th Corps." King reported as he walked up to Naruto, explaining him the situation. Naruto turned around, somewhat surprised, but then nodded in understanding. Obi-Wan was no naval officer, he hated space travel and would serve better on the ground as a Supreme Commander than in orbit.

"That's actually great news, have Anakin and the 501st meet up with Obi-Wan. I'll be there too to recommend an attack on the final generator. If we're lucky, they might be able to get ahead of the Separatist's main force before we have too many more to deal with. Me and Aayla will stay behind to deal with the one ahead of us." Naruto stated as King nodded before relaying the to Obi-Wan.

"Well, off you go. Bring down that generator ASAP and we can get out of here." Naruto said with a grin as he turned to Siri, who was just putting the warm winter clothing on over her red flight suit. Escorting her were some of King's best men from 1st Company as they rushed at near superhuman speeds across the battlefield. With a final nod, he too turned and began to return to his forces.

 **With Obi-Wan**

Obi-Wan calmly walked off the shuttle as the battle raged on ahead. He inspected the situation on ground with his own eyes and he was pleased to find out that they have made much progress.

"About time you decided to join us, master." Obi-Wan rolled his eyes at that as he turned to the one who made the comment. There, he found Anakin waiting for him, smirking his Skywalker smirk.

"Well, I had to do something other then just sit and wait." Obi-wan remarked. He would be much more useful on ground then in space. Not too long after he'd disembarked, Commander King had come up to his ear and spoke something that made the Jedi Master nod.

"We have everything under control here. You should go help out Master Billaba." Anakin affirmed as another barrage of concussion missiles rained down from above, this time targeting the Droids near the West ridge. Anakin deflated as Master Billaba broke through the ruined droid lines. "Or... you can just sit back and watch? We can take care of this generator."

"Really? Because it looks like your troops haven't moved an inch in over twenty minutes." Anakin again felt the air leave his wounded pride. "Don't fret, my apprentice. Not even I could take on a fortified Droid army when they're fighting on the high ground like that. A more experienced tactician is necessary." Obi-Wan gestured to King, and Anakin figured out Obi-wan's implication from there. Anakin only shrugged. If he and his Master couldn't take it there was no reason to think that Naruto could. The blond had helped their situation greatly, but everyone was doing their part and the situation overall was under control, even if their advance had been been forestalled.

"If you two are done with the pleasantries, we have a Generator to destroy, Master Kenobi." Aayla interjected as Obi-Wan nodded.

"Actually, Anakin and I are going for another target. You are Naruto are continuing forward the final, while Siri is joining Depa's advance towards the fifth." Obi-Wan stated as Aayla blinked at that, this was news to her, but an order was an order.

"Glad you finally made it, old man." Aayla jumped up, a bit spooked at the voice behind her before she calmed down and saw it was only Naruto.

"Stop doing that!" Aayla shouted as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Stop doing what?" He questioned as she sighed. Naruto must not have realized, but for however long - she hadn't kept track - he had developed a habit of sneaking up on her and the small surprises had steadily drove her insane.

"If you two don't mind, we have a job to do." Obi-Wan said as he and Anakin made their way to the frontlines. Shield generator didn't often destroy themselves. Naruto nodded as he then turned to Aayla.

"You heard him, lets move out." Naruto stated, even though there were three remaining, the one they were going after would be the last one standing as it was the furthest from them. Aayla nodded as the two quickly departed.

 **With Siri and Depa, Three Hours Later**

"Open fire!" Depa shouted as a concentrated barrage from several AT-TE's destroyed the fifth shield Generator, exposing a part of the base. It had been a long siege as she and Siri's legions pushed past the Droid forces through sheer brute force. There was no real strategy to have on this field as their forces were completely in the open. All she could do was feign attacking and retreating to lure the Droids out, but even that tactic began to show its age as most Droids were getting smart to it due to the many times it had been reused. Over time, Depa was able to create and opening and exploit it, widening further it before completely destroying the Droid line and having a clear shot at the Generator.

"General Tachi, we have Droids surrounding our perimeter!" A Clone shouted as the Droids began to open fire, laying down heavy fire that kept Siri and her forces pinned down.

"Hold the line!" She shouted, deflecting several blaster bolts as the Droids kept on firing. The Clones managed to find some cover in the ruins of the Droid lines, however it would not last them long.

 _"We need air support!"_ Siri thought, doing the best she could. It was then when the perimeter around them exploded wildly, wiping out all of the Droid's around them. Siri raised an eyebrow at that as she looked up and saw that it was Ross flagship that was responsible for saving her and the legions.

"Show off." She commented as she turned to the Clones.

"We are going to make our way to Obi-Wan's forces and act as reinforcements!" She shouted out her order as the clones nodded. One last battle and the day would be theirs!

 **With Naruto and Aayla**

The two Jedi faced an insurmountable cliff that continued to stall their advance. While Anakin and Obi-Wan made their way towards their target, fighting through the endless amount of Droids that were in their way, Naurto and Aayla had been stuck in roughly the same spot as they were three hours ago. However, as the two fanned out deeper and deeper into the enemy lines to try to find a way closer to the Generator, they made a very interesting discovery.

"This tunnel must be how they must be resupplying their base." Aayla commented, inspecting the large underground passageway.

"Yeah, and it seems like there's a whole network of em. They're all super well hidden too. I would've never found this thing if I weren't looking for it intentionally." Naruto added on as Aayla nodded at that. It made sense such a large amount of Droids and supplies would require a large network of tunnels, not just one. It was then it hit Naruto.

"This tunnel could lead to their main base." He stated as Aayla's eyes widened. If that was true, then they could use this tunnel to attack the main base and end this battle even more quickly

"But what about the shield generator?" Aayla questioned as Naruto thought over their next course of action.

"I'll take only the 497th and assault the main base and try to capture their Commander, take the the 7th legion through these tunnel and maybe you'll be able to find a way around that damn ridge." Naruto explained the plan as Aayla nodded. This could cause enough chaos within the Separatist lines to allow the rest of the 327th under Bly to easily take the contested Separatist position.

"Roger that. Good luck, General." Aayla bid farewell as Naruto smirked.

"Don't you know me? Luck is my middle name." He said with his stupid grin in full force. Aayla only rolled her eyes, responding with a smirk of her own as Naruto and King ran off into the distance.

"I'm know for certain your people don't give middle names to their offspring, you silly man." Aayla pondered whimsically as she tried to find her way up the inside of the ridge, behind Separatist lines, and into the generator complex

 **In the Separatist Base**

Although Naruto had entered the Separatist Headquarters with almost an entire Legion, he began to worry as he noticed two things. The first being that the Separatist commander was still holding back several tens of thousands of droids and was preparing to deploy them through the tunnel system against Kenobi's force advancing on the southernmost generator complex. The second was that various B1s were loading up dozens of transports that were escaping through a hidden hangar on the south side of the fortress. The Confederacy was preparing to abandon the planet, and for good reason. They had lost millions of droids

Naruto had scattered his forces across what he presumed would be the "barracks" of the base, but it was really just a storage space for battle droids of all shapes and sizes. As King got the signal from each time, Naruto prepared to give the order to strike, when he suddenly overheard a _**very**_ interesting conversation from a group of B1s.

"Count Dooku sure is in a rush to evacuate the base." complained a blue-striped Lieutenant. His servos were beginning to lock up from the strain of constantly lifting heavy equipment.

"Well, what would you do? The Republic just sent in General Kenobi to back up General Uzumaki. Those two are in competition for being the best Generals the Jedi have to offer! Defending this planet doesn't matter to Dooku anymore, now the only important thing is getting the hell outta here before they storm the place and blow everything up." the red-striped Sergeant returned with his own brand of sass. After that Naruto droned out their talk of dealing as much damage to the Republic before they escaped to look around as his men. If King weren't wearing a helmet, Naruto was sure he would've seen his jaw drop as low as his own.

 _ **Count Dooku**_ was the Separatist Commander on Rhen Var? No wonder the Confederacy had thrown everything they had at them. They weren't trying to protect the planet, they were trying to stall for Dooku's evacuation. Naruto turned to King who only held up his hand.

"Go, General. My men and I can handle the droids here. If you can subdue and capture Count Dooku we can end this war today." King had treaded the waters of ordering Naruto around with that sentence. Naruto only shook his head.

"You're outnumbered at least twenty to one down there. There's no way I can leave you guys to face a horde of scrap metal that size." Naruto protested King's suggestion vehemently, but King also shook his head, standing firm.

"Sir, if we die this day for the sake of _**you**_ being able to end this war, then it would be a death I welcomed. I'm not dying for the Republic. I'm not dying for democracy, the Jedi or the Senate. Just _**you**_. The only reason I'm still fighting in this war is because you are, and I'm not going to leave your side until death claims one of us. You've -" King hesitated for a moment, realizing that his voice had gotten too loud. "You've become our battle brother, Naruto. I've seen firsthand how Skywalker and the others command their clones, and they can't be compared to you. You've always thought of me as a person, never as a clone. Hell, I've never even heard you address any of us as clones." Needless to say, these words were highly effective.

Naruto had never noticed his internal reluctance to call his men clones. Sure they all had the same face, but despite all the high-tech breeding and rigorous training their personalities had survived and it showed in their tattoos and alterations to their hair and uniforms. Evern - no, especially - in their names. They had feelings, hobbies, and desires and to Naruto that made them no different than people and they had become his friends.

And if his friends wanted him to capture Count Dooku, he very well couldn't let them down, could he?

Naruto relented in his persistence to stay behind with a solemn nod of understanding. He moved into position just above the blast door and waited. A few moments later, King and his men repelled from the rafters and began blasting anything in sight, particularly the loaded transports in an attempt to keep them from escaping. A few of their Captains panicked and immediately took off, but others were disabled by the Clone's rockets. A heavy equipment crane had been toppled over by carefully placed explosives and permanently sealed the rest of the hangar bays as well as crushing a few droids in the process.

Naruto waited patiently and painfully long, for the reinforcements to arrive from below him. With a quick dive, he activated his lightsaber and did a wild spiraling dash through their ranks, cutting them all down. Naruto didn't stop and continued in a full sprint through the blast door the Seps had been so kind to open for him.

 **In Dooku's Private Hangar**

Count Dooku waited patiently as his transport was being prepared. His Master had given him the order to ensure that the Republics assault failed, however, it was far too late for that. The Republic forces were overrunning their defenses and would soon be upon him in droves. The Fleet above wasn't faring any better, either. Though Grievous' initial counter attack produced some results it was far too late and was easily contained.

 _"Master Sidious will not like this."_ Dooku through as he frowned. His Master would be very displeased with the news of this defeat. Not only that, but that Jedi, Naruto Uzumaki, was the cause of all of this. His actions had turned the tide of many battles. The boy's arrival alone had inspired a new well of hope for the ranks of the Republic. It had also enticed Skywalker into a bit of playful competition.

"Dooku!" He was broken out of this thought as he sidestepped the incoming blue blade, which cut down his pilot and his B2 guards in one full swing. Dooku followed the thrown blade back to the offending party and gave a insincere smile.

"Speak of the demon." Dooku's warm greeting masked the cutting insult. Naruto ignored Dooku's acknowledgement of Kurama and jumped down from the catwalk as he raised his saber towards the apprentice Sith.

"That's as far as you go Dooku. Surrender, and we can end this pointless war without any more bloodshed." Naruto stated, his lightsaber at the ready. Dooku chuckled at the blonde's word.

"Pointless? This war is far from pointless. The Republic has neglected the worlds of the Outer Rim, allowing pirates, criminal organizations, and the Hutts to expand. They have levied countless taxes trade routes, intended for corporations but failing to consider the ruin it brings to other businesses. The Republic did nothing but cater to the Inner Rim elite. This is why the Separatist Alliance was born; to break away from the Republic and to protect ourselves from the Republic's inevitable demise." Dooku stated. Though at one point he really believed in this cause, that was long ago. All that mattered now was to bring an end to everything and pave the way for a new power.

"Be that as it may, your actions contradict your words. You abandoned the worlds that have been left isolated, you threw away your allies and oppress neutral worlds until their join you. You are no freedom fighter, Dooku. I see your Sith plan for what it is. Surrender now, and we can put an end to the Sith forever." Naruto offered Dooku a way out, but the Force had warned him Dooku would not be swayed back to the light so easily. Naruto readied his blade for the upcoming duel.

"Surrender? Master Uzumaki, why would I surrender to someone who lost to a droid like Grievous?" Dooku questioned him, taunting the young Jedi Master. Naruto narrowed his eyes at that.

"You're right, but you're forgetting one thing. You're not a mechanically modified freak like Grievous." Naruto countered, tightening his grip on his saber. Dooku chuckled and nodded his head at that.

"That is true, I'm not Grievous. I'm far better." Dooku proclaimed, igniting his red saber and preparing his Makashi cadences. Naruto was the first to move, swiftly but cautiously rushing forward. As Dooku was a Form II specialist, Naruto chose to counter with his new Djem So techniques. Opening with a series of belligerent strikes, Naruto tried goading Dooku into making a mistake he could use against him, but he found no such mistake. Finding no flaw in the aged Sith's technique, Naruto instead opted to force Dooku into making a mistake. Naruto pushed in close for a cho mok strike at Dooku's lower leg, but the Count's dueling form easily parried the attack with a downward flourish and attempting to disable the Jedi at the knee in the process, but Naruto backflipped up onto the catwalk. Switching to his Form IV specialty, Naruto flipped over Dooku and unleashed a fierce assault on the Count's central line. The young blond began to pressure the aging man towards the stairs, not once letting up the attack as he attacked from any and all possible angles.

"I must say you have improved since I saw you on Geonosis." Dooku commented, parrying, reflecting, and counterattacking every single attack with grace. The boy was able to outmaneuver him several times with his unpredictable strikes, but it nothing the experienced former Jedi couldn't recover from.

"I'm just getting started." Naruto replied, changing to Makashi tactics in the middle of his cadence. Dooku frowned at the poor display of expertise in the form, expecting much more from a Jedi Master, but that's when Dooku noticed it. Although he was blocking the strikes with ease, the power behind each attack left a stinging feeling in his hand. This wasn't pure Makashi, this was a Makashi cadence with Djem So power behind it.

Dooku switched hands and went in for a counterattack, but the blond Jedi easily avoided it with his heightened reflexes. With each strike Dooku was being pushed back, unable to mount a counteroffensive. As he was pushed back to the wall and Naruto began to make the motion for another strike, Dooku quickly spun counterclockwise before kicking the Jedi in the side, launching him across the hanger. Naruto crashed into the wall on the opposite side, however, to Dooku's surprise he didn't seem harmed at all!

"That the best you got, old man?" Naruto questioned the Count, who glared back. between labored breaths. The more he fought against Naruto, the better the Jedi Master was becoming at responding to his attacks.

He needed to end this quickly.

 **With Ross**

Ross stood in the bridge of his flagship, looking at the planet below. The battle in space was all but won and the situation on the ground was similar. Separatist forces were being routed and their positions falling into Republic hands. It wouldn't be long before the planet was completely under Republic control. However, there was something that seemed…amiss. He doubted the Separatists had any more ships or droids in reserve, so why?

 _"Why do I have such a bad feeling about this? Like something terrible is about to happen?"_ He thought as he frowned. Something was not right, and it was driving him nuts. After a few moments

"Get me in contact with Commander King immediately." Ross ordered as he turned and made his way to the large circular table in the rear of the bridge. Once he reached it a hologram of King appeared, firing away his blasters at some Droids.

 _"Sir?"_ King questioned, wondering what Ross wanted.

"Where is Naruto?" Ross questioned King, who fired some shots before looking at him.

 _"He went off to stop Count Dooku from escaping."_ King answered, causing Ross's to blink. Dooku was considered to have once been a powerful Jedi and Naruto was off fighting him alone somewhere. That was when Ross mind caught up with itself and realized King had just told him the Confederacy of Independent Systems' Head of State was the one commanding the Droid army in battle. Ross' eyes widened in shock and he began nearly yelling through the communicator.

" _ **Count Dooku**_ is on the planet and you _**didn't**_ report this to Command?! I'm contacting General Kenobi now, he will arrive with backup as soon as possible. In the meantime, go after Naruto, _**now**_. Find that fool before he ends up dead!" Ross ordered with urgency as King looked at him for a moment with a twinge of offense before nodding. He had faith in Naruto's abilities that Ross simply did not. The hologram promptly faded away as Ross turned his attention to the planet below once more. Naruto was a cunning warrior, yes, but Dooku was a high priority target on a level of his own. He could only hope that King made it in time to provide back up, that was when Ross remembered he still had work to do.

"Get me General Kenobi, tell him it's a priority one message." Ross spat out in a haste. If the two of them were quick enough, then perhaps Naruto could still be alive.

 **Naruto Vs Dooku**

The duel dragged on for several minutes as Naruto sent Dooku strike after strike, but all were deflected by Dooku's expert bladework. His superior experience and training had kept him on guard. This impenetrable defense had caused Naruto to become frustrated in his inability to get a hit on the Count.

 _"Come on!"_ He growled in slight anger. Every time it seemed that the Count was backed into a corner, he would always find a way to fight back.

 **"Seems like you're having trouble, Naruto."** The Nine-Tails spoke with a slight chuckle as Naruto narrowed his eyes. What did the fox want now?

 _"Not now."_ Naruto said, hoping to silence the Fox, but the giant demonic canine only laughed.

 **"On the contrary, you need me. You've gotten better but you can't defeat him or Grievous alone, you know that, don't you?"** Kurama asked rhetorically. Naruto only growled in response. The Count was far more experienced than him, but that did not mean he was incapable of beating him!

 _"I can do it myself!"_ Naruto stated, sending another two-handed strike at the Count. It was so powerful that it almost broke Dooku's wrist, visible by the slight flinch and expression of pain on his face, but that was missed by Naruto.

 **"No, you can't. That is why I am allowing you to us my power against someone like Dooku. Just this once"** Kurama offered with a wicked grin.

 _"No. I won't rely on power that I didn't gain myself."_ Naruto proclaimed. He would beat Dooku on his own and though his own skill and abilities. With that in mind, he quickly shifted his stance, one that Dooku did not recognize.

 _"What form is this?"_ Dooku thought as he readied himself for whatever was to come. Naruto charged forward in a direct approach as Dooku frowned. He expected more from this new style, but it seems he would be disappointed. However, to his surprise, Naruto quickly sidestepped at the last second, attempting to strike at the Count from the left. Dooku quickly responded, blocking in incoming strike. He snarled as the offending lightsaber connected with his. So powerful the strike was that it sent a slight shock wave.However that was not the end there as Naruto quickly started to unleash a set of strikes against him as he flipped over the Sith with a move typical of Form IV, each as powerful as the rest.

 _"How strong is this boy?!"_ Dooku questioned, starting to sweat. His age had quickly started to catch up to him in this duel. He was beginning to feel the fatigue of a long fight, while Naruto didn't even show any signs of even breaking a sweat. Dooku knew he needed to end the duel quickly, but he started to think it had lasted too long already. He started to utilize more unorthodox tactics, drawing Naruto in and falling back towards the railing. That was when Dooku saw his opening. It seemed that despite his prowess in the art of dueling, young Naruto still had much to learn about martial combat. Dooku had just turned 80 while the late-trained blond Jedi was barely 25. The sixty year gap in experience would always matter in a duel between the two of them, and Dooku was ready to teach Uzumaki a lesson he wouldn't soon forget.

Naruto remained unaware of his surrounding as he was focused solely on Dooku, sending blow after blow, exhausting the last of the Count's stamina. As Naruto came in for another strike, Dooku quickly side-stepped behind him. Widening his eyes, Naruto realized what had just happened and the mistake he had made. He was so focused on Dooku he didn't realized that he now faced the railed edge of the catwalk, and when he felt Dooku push on his back, Naruto felt a great amount of pain in his stomach as he was slammed hard into the railing. In just a few short moments, the railing buckled and Naruto felt himself falling down. It wasn't a long fall, but he would definitely feel it. Naruto braced himself for the impact but he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his stomach - no, his back.

 _"What the-!?"_ He shouted, but the words could not leave his mouth as he saw a red blade had pierced into his stomach from behind. Dooku had broken Makashi conventions and thrown his lightsaber at him. Naruto then felt the harsh collision with the ground he had prepared for, impacting it head first. Despite his wounds and the skull-cracking headache, Naruto stood up, ready to continue fighting. That was when the lightsaber was sharply drawn from his back with the Force, causing him to collapse onto the ground from the pain. This wasn't like the deep scratches Grievous had given him. Naruto realized this was a fatal injury that he wouldn't be getting up from. The disorientation and shock was simply too much, and the blond Jedi Master quickly fell into unconsciousness, certain that he wouldn't be waking up from this sleep.

Dooku was nearly panting as the Force left his body and his bones began to creak. He slowly made his way down the stairs, and reel back in pain when his hand touched the railing. His wrist wasn't completely broken, but the bone was definitely factured from that power attack. He made his way to an empty crate to use as a makeshift stool, tired from the prolonged duel and wanting a brief respite for his elderly body. His forearms were aching badly from the heavy blows and his strained knees would likely require a checkup from a medical droid. Dooku looked over at his downed opponent, and began to walk towards the unconscious Jedi.

"I must say you have become quite the Jedi, Master Uzumaki. Since I last saw you, you have noticeably grown in power and in experience. I remember when Master Windu was made the youngest Jedi Master ever at twenty-eight, the fact that you have beaten his record is a testament to your natural talent and growth. In two or three decades, you might even become as powerful as my own Master." Dooku remarked as he calmed his breathing and collected himself. Then, with a deep breath he stood up from the chair. He simply started at the downed Jedi, thinking about other possibilities than ending this promising Force user.

 _"I could take him with me, and perhaps one day he might turn to the Dark Side."_ Dooku though briefly but shook his head. No, that would never work. He knew that Naruto held some kind of dark power within him, maybe darker and more powerful than his Master. If such a power wasn't able to turn him to the Dark Side, then how would be able to do that? Not to mention his Master, Sidious, would never allow it.

 _"And even if he did, I worry at the prospect of young Naruto here being chosen to replace me."_ Dooku thought with a frown. The Sith were beings of betrayal and he knew that his Master would betray him the moment he saw weakness within him. With that in mind, he slowly approached Naruto, igniting his red saber once more.

"This is the end for you young Jedi." Dooku said as he readied the final strike. However, at the moment the Force forewarned him of the blaster fire incoming from the doorway. Turning his attention to the offending party, he saw a lone Clone trooper in customized gold-striped armor charging at him with twin blaster pistols firing away at him. Narrowing his eyes, he began to deflect the incoming blaster fire toward the Clone, who evaded them all with grace and masterful reflexes. Continuing to advance even after he ran out of ammunition.

 _"How peculiar."_ Dooku thought as the Clone was now within striking distance. As the Count swung his blade, ready to decapitate this foolish Commander, the Clone quickly threw his emptied blaster pistols away as he dropped to his knees, evading the strike. Reaching under his plasteel bracers, King withdrew the custom extendable vibroblades Naruto had gifted him and proceed to block Dooku's return strike, the Mandalorian Iron-weave in the blade proving impossible for the saber to cut. He countered with a sweep from his second blade. The Count was able block the strike, but King noticed the very vocal grunt the Count let slip when defending. His right wrist had been injured, that would be good to know. Dooku's duel with Naruto had already sapped him of most his strength and fighting a new opponent, especially a former Clone Commando, would prove to be a daunting task for the octogenarian Sith.

"It is rare to find common folk who are capable of fighting on par with a Force sensitive. Ever rarer to find one that can stand up to the skill of a Sith Lord." Dooku commented, thoroughly impressed as King narrowed his eyes under his helmet, blocking Dooku's flowing Form II strikes. The Sith grunted again and decided to switch to using his left hand for the rest of the battle.

"You can thank my General for that." King stated as he went on the offensive, utilizing the Form V skills he had trained over the past five months, nearly catching the Count off-guard. King had sparred with Naruto many times in the past to help the General improve his martial skills, and over time King also picked up the art of bladed combat and how to fight force sensitive opponents from their encounters. He might not be a Jedi, but he knew a thing or two about how to fight one off.

And with Dooku being already exhausted as he was from his fight with Naruto, King was confident that he could take on the Sith Lord. Focusing his attacks on the Count's right, Dooku was forced to block awkwardly with his left hand or switch back to his right. He chose the latter and immediately regretted it as the pain from his fractured wrist surged up his arm. Dooku realized this was what King had intended and renewed his assault, harnessing greater anger. King's twin vibroblades spun furiously in his defense against the light cuts and jabs. He was used to fighting a much faster opponent than Dooku, but the gap in skill between Sith Lord and Clone was still very much apparent. In Dooku's case, there was little time to deal with a sole clone, as it was likely if he and Naruto had been found that reinforcements were on the way, likely more Jedi. Acknowledging that staying any longer would jeopardize his life, Dooku jumped away from King with aid of the Force, landing near the ramp of his ship.

"Tell me Commander, would you rather continue struggling against me or save your General's life?" Dooku questioned King, who couldn't help but look back at his General. Doing a quick checkup, King realized that Dooku had thankfully missed Naruto's spine, but Naruto was still severely wounded by the Count's saber throw, and there was profuse bleeding from his head, likely paired with a concussion or skull fracture.

To King, the choice was clear. The Clone quickly turned and ran towards the limp Naruto, intent on saving the life of his friend and brother. Dooku smirked in his little triumph, taking the chance to retreat as the Clone carried Naruto away on his back. As he boarded his ship he took note that Skywalker's advance had just destroyed the final shield generator, leaving the base completely exposed.

 _"Lord Sidious_ _ **definitely**_ _won't be pleased."_ Dooku thought as the shuttle zoomed out of the base. Someone would pay dearly for this failure.

 **With King**

"Come on." King said to himself as he ran down the hallway as he approached the exit. Upon exiting the base, he quickly found the 497th had readied their speeder bikes for a hasty getaway from the doomed Separatist base. Gently securing the unconscious Naruto to vehicle, King hopped on it and went full throttle as he headed towards the Republic lines, and not too soon as Ross and the _Spearhead_ had begun a low-orbit bombardment quickly tore the structure behind them to pieces.

"Good thing we weren't still in there, eh, General?" He joked to Naruto's unresponsive body as the two of them sped off into the distance.

 **Jedi Temple, Coruscant, Four Days Later**

Although the battle had been won with the destruction of the Separatist headquarters and the Separatist forces were in full retreat, the fighting on Rhen Var lasted for several more days as ARC Trooper squads swept through and cleaned out the vast network of underground tunnels the CIS had set up throughout the planet. Republics forces had begun to consolidate and regroup to continue the offensive at Felucia, with Master Secura now leading the expeditionary forces.

As his troops moved further away from the Galactic center, Naruto found himself stuck in a bed much closer. He'd been stuck in the Temple's medbay with an annoyed look on his face for sometime now.

"For the ten thousandth time, Siri, I'm fine." Naruto whined as Siri continued looking over his wounds to make sure . Here he was, having been fatally wounded by a Sith Lord, saying that he was fine. The hole in his abdomen had already almost completely healed thanks to the influence of energy from the oversized fox sealed within. But Naruto was anything but fine. His skull had multiple fractures in his skull and one in his shoulder, not to mention the tremendous concussion and brain-splitting headache he still felt. When Siri had seen the condition he was in, she wanted to turn the entire 10th Army loose on Dooku, but Obi-wan had thankfully calmed her down.

"No, you're not! Have you even seen the scar on your stomach? By the Force, you had a hole in your stomach, you idiot." Siri shouted, equally annoyed at his behavior and lack of self preservation.

"I can see that you two are quite busy, should we come back later?" The two turned to see a familiar Kel Dor standing in the doorway with a short orange togruta with tears in her eyes barely holding herself back from leaping onto the injured blond.

"Please, Master Plo, sis is just being overdramatic. I'm completely fine! I'll be back on the front lines in a few days at the latest" Naruto complained as Plo Koon chuckled, suggesting that he wait at least another week. Currently, most of the high ranking Jedi's were away from the Temple, fighting or supervising their own forces. Plo Koon was the sole Master with a seat on the Council that remained at the Temple at the time Naruto arrived. He was concerned about his former Padawan's condition, but after hearing him complain that Dooku had used a cheap trick, the Kel Dor was confident there was nothing to worry about.

"I wish I could stay longer, Naruto, but I'm actually here to gather Siri for a mission to Cato Neimoidia I was hoping she could join me on. Don't worry, I've brought another young lady to watch over Naruto while you're gone. She should keep him company for some time." Plo Koon gestured for Ahsoka to take Siri's place at Naruto's bedside. She couldn't move fast enough for her liking.

"Siri, go with Plo. When you're done on Cato, I want you to meet up with Aayla and Ross on Felucia and continue the campaign North under Ross' command. I know you want to be by my side but I'd feel much more comfortable if you were out doing something productive instead of stuck here worrying about me." Siri nodded, wiping away the bit of moisture welling in her eyes and she and Plo Koon walked out the door. Naruto waited for a few seconds to make sure no one would be coming back and then he immediately turned to Ahsoka, who immediately whipped out three stacks of cards.

"Hope you brought enough credits this time, brat." Naruto asked as he set up his side deck for the upcoming match.

"Nuh-uh, Naru. You're the one that's gonna pay up this time." Ahsoka retorted, drawing the first card in the Pazaak deck.

 **One Hour Later**

Naruto tried to hide his grumble as he held onto his sole remaining card, a measly 2. He was at 16, so he could try to stand at 18, but Ahsoka was hot in his trail with 14. Not wanting to chance a bust, Naruto opted to play his card. Ahsoka drew hers, a 3 that brought her total up to 17. That was when Naruto's smile faded as Ahsoka dropped another 3 from her hand, giving her a perfect 20 and winning the set.

"Damn concussion." Naruto muttered, having not won a single hand all day. He was almost 600 credits in the red and was about to call it quits when the door suddenly opened and Ahsoka scrambled to gather up all the cards before someone saw. Composing themselves, the two turned their attention to Naruto's new guest, only to be surprised to find Supreme Chancellor Palpatine himself walk through the doorway.

"Ah, Master Uzumaki, good to see you up and about. I see your recovering is coming along swiftly." The Chancellor smiled warmly before nodding to Ahsoka in acknowledgement of her presence, not yet knowing the togruta teen's name. "If I may interrupt you two, this whole situation on Rhen Var brought with it some news that I wish to discuss."

"This isn't about me moving without Ross is it?" Naruto asked, eyeing the Chancellor's personal guard. "We'd had no contact with Coruscant for days and General Kenobi had requested my assistance. I had no choice but to move." Naruto attempted to explain, but Palpatine merely raised his hands to stop the blond from getting too carried away.

"No - heavens no - my dear boy. You're not in any sort of trouble. Your actions were heroic and likely saved the day. I wish the Republic had more officers with your initiative. I was thrilled when the Council voted for your promotion to Jedi Master. From what I hear, you've already been down to the Master's archive to seek more advanced knowledge of the Force. I admire your dedication to the Order, as well." Palpatine layered on his praise for the youngest Jedi Master in the Order's history. The more prideful part of Naruto was having a wonderful day, but another part of him was sick of hearing this list of compliments that was getting far too long for his liking. His turned his attention back to the Chancellor when the man had finally decided to get the point of his visit.

"The reason I'm here, Master Jedi, concerns the report of you and the Commander of the 497th's encounter with Count Dooku. Considering the friendly relations between you two and the skill you've demonstrated, I've decided that the two of you should work together... more closely." Palpatine explained warmly. "Because I would hate to lose one of my most accomplished Generals so early in the war..." Ahsoka gripped his hand as Palpatine began to overexplain his idea of reassigning the 497th to be Naruto's personal troops. This was an idea that intrigued Naruto. Out of everyone in the 10th Army, King was the person he felt closest to; aside from Siri, at least. So working together with him more was an idea Naruto approved of.

"...and of course CC-1293 will be promoted to the rank of Clone Marshal Commander for his heroics as well. This also means that you'll need to assign and train a new legion to fill the vacancy left in the 14th Corps. I'm sorry to say but all we have available for you at the moment are fresh recruits from Kamino. So you'll need to travel there to meet them." Palpatine's droning finally came to an end and Naruto had a chance to think. Ahsoka's grip tightened and he turned to the young togruta, who obviously had hoped to spend her free time with him. Training a legion in his tactics and formations would take up all of his spare time for the next week at the very least. Naruto looked at his soon-to-be Padawan and made his decision.

"I think that's a great idea, Chancellor Palpatine." Naruto turned back to the elderly man, who smiled. "I'll look over the troops later today and begin training them at the crack of dawn tomorrow."

"Oh dear, there's no need for that, Master Jedi. Focus on your recovery. The Clones will be there when you're properly discharged. Good day and I wish you a speedy recovery, Master Uzumaki." Palpatine turned to Ahsoka and nodded again, having neglected to learn the young togruta's name, before leaving the room; his guards following soon after. Naruto felt a small thud on his unbroken shoulder. Naruto turned to the offending orange-skinned teen.

"Why'd you do that, Naru? Now we'll never get to have any time for ourselves." Ahsoka whined as she slugged him once more. Naruto smiled for a bit and only looked at her one last time before asking the all too important questions.

"Ahsoka, you're heading for Ilum later this month to find your kyber crystal, right?" Ahsoka nodded in response. "And after that, you'll be a Padawan, and not just any Padawan, but _**my**_ Padawan, right?" She smiled and nodded again more eagerly this time. "Well, here's the deal, Ahsoka. After today, I realized that I can't protect you forever out on that battlefield. It breaks my heart to accept that you'll end up fighting, but I figured I might as well teach you what I know and make sure you can protect yourself from any situation the Seps send your way. So you're coming with me to Kamino as soon as I'm discharged. Ahsoka lit up at that, eager to spend more time with Naruto.

"And while you're teaching the troops the formations and tactics, I'm learning them too, right?" Ahsoka beamed and Naruto nodded in affirmation.

"As well as everything I know about combat, at least for as long we have spare time. So maybe not everything, but as much as I can." Naruto felt a sharp pain as Ahsoka's arms wrapped around his shoulders, including the broken one.

 **So? How was it? Good bad? Leave a like and a review! I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did and be on the look out for more and possible far larger chapters! Also, did you know that a year ago, on this very day, this story was published? So, my Beta reader/writer told me that we should update a chapter today, and not just any chapter, a uber long chapter! Lol, enjoy!**


	20. When Will Defies Fear

**Hello there my dear readers! I know, it's been months since I updated anything or this story at all! Well, you wanna know what's being happening? This…this 43-page 24K, verging on 25k, monstrosity. This chapter is like 3 chapters in one and we didn't bother breaking it into three chapters lol. With that said, I hope you all enjoy this chapter that took us almost 2 months to make!**

 **Also, this will be the last chapter of this story for this year! Next time this story will be updated it will be the beginning of the next year. Me and my beta reader/writer need a vacation dammit! Once again, I hope you enjoy this! Bye!**

 **Supreme Chancellor's Office, Four Days after the Battle of Rhen Var**

The long battle at Rhen Var beginning to draw to a close. The 7th Corps was now conducting only mop-up operations against smaller droid holdouts while Admiral Darahan took command of the 10th Army to continue Operation: Full Hammer. The garrisons had been warned of the Republic's planned invasions and within a week or two the offensive would eventually stall. Sidious looked down at the reports from Rhen Var, examining them in extreme detail and his scowl couldn't be any larger than it already was, but after a few moments of his seething, it twisted into a sick and malevolent smile.

 _"That boy is becoming far too powerful."_ the Supreme Chancellor thought as he shifted through the various reports. The blond Jedi had shifted the tide of the battle by simply arriving. His presence alone were enough to rally the demoralized and outmatched Republic forces, and his skill on the battlefield tipped the scales fully. Adding to this, Ross and the other commanders the 10th Army also turned the tide of the battle.

 _"These subversive methods have proven ineffective. I will have to deal with him more directly."_ Palpatine thought as he picked up another data pad. Had Naruto just a few more years of experience and skill, Sidious was unsure if Dooku would have won their heated duel, and even had he proven victories, it would be unlikely he would've escaped from this upstart Clone Commander, "King" as he had taken to being called by his comrades. He had proven to be far more capable than anticipated possible for any Clone. He had managed to battle Dooku - a former Jedi Master - to a standstill. Even if Dooku was exhausted from his encounter with Naruto, he should still be more than capable of taking on a non-Force sensitive Clone. Palpatine again scowled at that. If there were more Clones like King in Naruto's forces then it would pose a serious threat to his plans.

Sidious now realized what Naruto had seen in the 497th on Geonosis. He knew why the boy had requested they be placed under his command. He was hoping that Naruto constantly fighting on the frontlines would eventually get him killed, causing other Jedi to lose hope and also fall to the droid onslaught. But Naruto had proven to have far more potential than even Dooku had warned him of. In the end, his efforts had only empowered the blond, and had even gotten Naruto promoted and given access to the archives restricted only to Jedi Masters, furthering his growth. At the start of the war, Sidious believed that only two Jedi - Mace Windu and Grand Master Yoda - were a serious threat to him and his plans, and they were the most powerful in the order.

Now he was beginning to think that this list would require an addition if Naruto Uzumaki became any more powerful...

 **Tipoca City, Kamino, Sixteen Days later**

"All this rain is insufferable…" Naruto grumbled as he stood at the edge of one of the many busy hangars, watching the droplets fall endlessly as the seas rose to mass heights before crashing down onto the many support structures that held the whole city up. This mission to train a new legion was actually Naruto's first trip to Kamino, and the Jedi Master had quickly discovered that he loathed this planet and its incessant... 'wetness'. Waiting here while the war waged on across the galaxy was also tortuous, but these were the Chancellor's orders, and Naruto wasn't willing to let an entire Legion of new troops be thrown into battle unprepared.

The docking bays had been busy all day. Dozens of Acclamators and Star Destroyers were taking off every hour as the next batch of Clones had completed their training. Despite losses in the war, the Grand Army of the Republic now stood almost two million clones strong. Separatist advances in the Outer Rim were grinding to a halt as elite Clone reinforcements began arriving across the galaxy to aid local planetary defense forces and irregular units. It was a little under halfway through the fifth month of the Clone War, and Naruto was beginning to think that what the galaxy had seen up until now was just a calm before the storm and the battles were about to become ludicrously more intense. It was no longer a rush to occupy undefended systems or to win over the favor of neutral systems leaning this way or that. The battle lines had been drawn and it looked to Naruto that every battle would look like Bestine or Rhen Var.

"Looks like you're sitting pretty, up and about so casually. I shouldn't be surprised considering you heal faster than a Firrerreo." He heard as he turned around to find Siri smirking at him. Naruto rolled his eyes as he turned to look back at the rain.

"Please tell me you're here to spirit me away from this Force forsaken watery hellhole?" Naruto questioned as Siri nodded with a laugh as she sauntered up to stand beside him. Naruto was never one for extreme weather.

"Yeah, but I'm also here to inspect the new Clone legion. It will be under my command since you took the 497th from me just to protect your sorry ass." Siri joked, but something caused Naruto to frown. Siri noticed his reaction and raised an eyebrow.

"Something wrong? Don't tell me soaking up all this water has made your thick skin go soft?" She questioned as Naruto sighed, turning his head back slightly back to look inside the hangar where the new rookies were carrying out their assigned duties.

"They're green, Siri. The Kaminoans didn't teach them a damn thing about real combat. All they have done is sent them through simulation and simulation, but we all know that real combat is nothing like the simulation. It's like their drones who only need orders." Naruto complained as Siri slowly nodded, understanding what he was saying.

"Supervised by galaxy-renown bounty hunters or not, many of them will get killed the day they step foot on a battlefield." Naruto predicted a dire future that for these 'shinies'. The first groups sent not long after Geonosis had the advantage of having most of their training complete before the war began. But these Clones had been rushed out the door by the Senate. Sure, they were more capable than most irregulars, but they needed some proper combat experience before being thrust into a major battle, which would likely be the whole of the foreseeable future. They needed to start out small and make their way up. Otherwise the Republic would just be feeding these poor souls still wet behind the ears into a meat grinder.

"What do you propose?" Siri questioned as the two began to make their way into the facility, heading to where Siri would find the new Clones. Naruto hummed at that question as he thought about what he could possible do, before an idea entered into his mind.

"Nothing concrete yet, but it would seem there would be some kind of system to assign tasks by rank and skills rather then just assigning them to anyone. You cannot teach a person with a one-size-fits-all mentality. Take Fang, for example. I wouldn't trust him to even be near any sort of explosive device, but unless I know he's coming beforehand, I wouldn't ever be able to tell you if he was sneaking up on me." Naruto stated as Siri raised an eyebrow at that.

"Oh?" was Siri's only response as Naruto nodded. Siri found that when Naruto's train of thought was on a roll it was best not to interrupt him, otherwise he might lose it or forget about it altogether. He was always scatterbrained like that. She'd long lost count of how many times as a Youngling that Naruto had forgotten his training saber after being reminded how to properly tie his robes or to show the proper respect to his masters.

"It would take time, but I think we should categorize missions into subcategories. Allow the new recruits to take on the slightly easier missions to gain a bit of real experience before taking on more difficult tasks. At least in that area - I don't expect everyone to be a master of everything. By doing so we can minimize the casualties and allow them to gain experience for harder missions." Naruto explained as Siri nodded. Above all else, Naruto hated senseless bloodshed. He would save lives whenever he was able to and this was just one way to save lives.

"Yeah, but I don't think it'll be that easy to define missions as "easy", especially in wartime." Siri commented as Naruto nodded to himself as the two entered the communications hub, where one Ross Darahan was waiting for them.

"Good to see that you're doing well, General." Ross commented as he turned to Siri, who seemed less cold towards him.

"And I see that you have a less of a stick up your ass." Naruto replied back with a smile. Siri chuckled at his response as Ross's brows curled in amusement. Even after an impalement, Naruto was able to crack a joke.

"You're not very professional for a General, Uzumaki." Ross stated as Naruto waved off his lackluster attempt at a comeback before moving to talk to one of the Kaminoans. Ross shook his head dejectedly as Siri chuckled at his expense.

"You know, he's right." Siri commented, getting Ross attention.

"Not you too..." Ross groaned at her with a pained expression, but Siri shook her head.

"No, I mean it and I think he does too. You have become less…callous. It's easy enough just to tell just by being around you. You're a lot thoughtful about your actions." Siri commented as Ross blinked at that. Had he really changed that much? His casualty rate of had been greatly reduced, over twenty percent, but he thought this was just a result of him becoming a better commander.

 _"I have improved at fighting the Separatists…"_ Ross thought deeply on this. He'd simply thought it was that his tactics and strategies had evolved from fighting poorly equipped pirates and bandits to being more used to fighting a military force with greater man- er, droidpower than the Republic. He hadn't observed the change in his feelings towards his comrades until recently, but it was apparent when Ross gave a little introspection. Prior to the war, he cared little for those under his command, but now every life mattered... at least a bit. There were some, like Naruto, whose might be more valuable to the war effort than an entire Legion of Clones, but it wasn't about weighing the value of life to victory anymore. He found he couldn't just throw away soldiers left and right. Glancing towards the blond Jedi General, Ross' face had become a bit of a confused snarl.

"It's kinda cute when you're thinking hard." He was broken out of his thoughts by Siri who was grinning. "He has that impact on people, ya know?"

"What?" He questioned her as Siri looked towards Naruto with a fond smile, causing Ross to sigh lowly. If only she would smile like that towards him.

"Naruto has a strange effect that seems to follow him. Those around him often change for the better. He seems to bring out the best in everyone." She stated as Ross took in what she said, and he found her argument quite compelling.

"Yes…that he does…" He agreed before he shook his head. He had forgotten the reason why he had come. "This is fine and all, but we have more pressing matters to attend to, General Uzumaki." Ross stated as he pulled Naruto's attention back towards him. Naruto rolled his eyes as turned towards Ross.

"And what would that be?" Naruto questioned as Ross nodded and pulled out a data pad, handing it to Naruto.

"The Separatists, after a string of victories in the Southern Outer Rim, have installed a listening post somewhere in this sector. High Command believes they are using this post to stage an attack on Coruscant. The Chancellor has ordered us to investigate it take out any." Ross stated as Naruto raised an eyebrow at that.

"Seems like a simple mission. Why didn't they send anyone else?" Naruto questioned. Surly there were better things he could be sent to do?

"The orders came down from the top. Not to mention that the Chancellor has a gag order on this." Ross stated as Naruto narrowed his eyes at that. If that was true, then that would mean that he would have a limited amount of resources for this mission.

"Our requisitioned forces?" Naruto questioned Ross.

"Two Acclamators and their compliment, so roughly three legions. The memo said that large groups of ship attract undesirable attention." Ross said with an air of disbelief. "Not entirely untrue in the Core, but..." Those last mutterings caused Naruto to finish Ross' thought.

"But very unlikely in the Rishi Maze." He had expected a small force, but only two Acclamators? Either Kamino wasn't that important or this listening post wasn't considered too much of a threat. Considering that Kamino was invaluable to the Republic, Naruto opted to believe the latter option. _"Perfect"_ , he thought. This was just the kind of operation he was hoping for as he moved towards the comms console, typing in a few commands to Tipoca City's main computer.

"Very well, we'll gather the 497th and the 644th. Just two legions should be enough for a blue milk run like this if we have two Jedi." He ordered as Siri lifted an eyebrow.

"The 644th? Never heard of that legion." She commented as Naruto began to smirk.

"That's because it's new. Come on." Naruto said with a grin as he beckoned Ross and Siri to follow him to the staging area. Arriving, they saw the 644th already marching in a tight formation before coming to a halt, waiting to load up into their Acclamator transport. Fully trained and ready to fight, it was a brand-new legion of Clones that had never saw combat before, the reflections off of their piercing white armor shined brightly into the eyes of the two observers.

"I think they actually got the formation right this time." The three heard as they turned to see Ahsoka walking up to them, smiling warmly. In the two weeks they had been here, she had become the de facto drill sergeant of the 644th under Naruto. At least until they were properly transferred into the 10th Army.

"Formation isn't everything, 'Soka. It's maintaining it that matters. Lesson seventy-six." Naruto said as Ahsoka pouted at his remark while Ross nodded in agreement. Proper formation showed little more than the discipline of a unit, but that mattered little in the heat of battle. If they can keep the same formation under Separatist fire, then they have true discipline.

"Don't start, you two. I think you have done a wonderful job, Ahsoka." Siri praised the young Padawan. She held little combat experience compared to proper Jedi, but if she'd managed to get seventy-six tidbits of advice from an experienced commander like Naruto, she was already leagues ahead of the other prospective Padawans for the coming war.

"At least someone sees my hard work." the Padawan stated, thanking the older Jedi. The groups attention was pulled away as they heard the sound of an Acclamator slowly pulling up, docking with the city, allowing the Legion to board the vessel.

"I didn't realize that they would be here this quick." Naruto stated as Ross cough in his hand.

"I had it all set prior to coming here. I had a feeling you would want to use the 497th, so they're already on board another Acclamator in orbit." Ross stated as Naruto nodded at that. He should have realized that Ross would have it all set out. The man was a genius with an uncanny knack for bureaucratic army matters. It was half the reason Naruto kept him around in the beginning.

"Then what are we waiting for? We better get a move on and deal with this." Naruto stated as he turned to Ahsoka and smirked.

"Stay out of trouble while I'm gone, 'Soka." Naruto stated as the Padawan chuckled.

"I have no idea what you mean by that." She stated as Naruto shook his head.

"Yes, you do." He responded as he and Ross made their way towards the ship. Siri sighed as she saw the event unfold as Ahsoka frowned. She did not want Naruto having to head out to a missing so soon after he had just almost died at the hands of the Sith.

"Is everything ok?" Siri questioned the Togruta teen after she noticed her frowning and deep in thought.

"It's just that…he's so careless. He almost died a few weeks ago and now he's up and acting like it never happened. How can he just do that? Does he not care about his own wellbeing?" The Padawan-to-be stated as Siri nodded at that before she turned to look at the blond Jedi's back.

"He does care about himself, but more importantly he cares for others far more. I know it seems weird because he's so good at it, but Naruto doesn't like war. Part of it is just his nature, but due to Naruto's connection to the Force he is more attuned to the suffering of others. He hates that people are dying for something that could be so easily fixed. If the Republic would just recognize the Confederacy this war would be over.

"Peace is a noble aspiration, but that doesn't mean you should shy away from a fight to preserve it." Ahsoka nodded at this in total agreement. You couldn't show up the frontlines against the Separatists and end up cowering to their droids. She was amped up and ready to finish her Initiate Trials and build her own lightsaber. Siri noticed this misinterpretation of her words and moved to correct it. "Actually, fighting off an aggressor... is sometimes the only way to preserve peace. Naruto learned that the hard way on Mandalore." Siri tried explaining, but Ahsoka had already chimed in.

"What happened on Mandalore?" the Togruta youngling blurted out with a mix of frustration and enthusiasm, Siri realizing that Naruto hadn't discussed the events on Mandalore with her all that much, if at all.

"Well, the original mission was to just protect the Duchess Satine, her family, and their political entourage as much as possible, but almost as soon as they landed they fell under attack from her enemies.

 **Concordia, Mandalore System, 14 Years Ago**

"Incoming!" A Mandalorian pilot shouted as the transport he was piloting was hit. Onboard the transport, young Naruto Uzumaki struggled to keep his balance. Everything had gone to hell when the rebels had intercepted their transports that were carrying the Duchess. The pilots had done their best to evade the enemy, but there were too many of them.

"Brace yourselves!" He heard Plo Koon shout as everyone readied themselves for the impact. The pilots did their best to make an emergency landing, but the transport shook violently as they impacted the ground. Overheard rebel fighters flew above, their mission finished as now gunships carrying insurgents quickly began to descend upon the group of transports that were shot down.

"Damn." Mikehl whispered to himself. This was it, they were going to die. They were outnumbered and outgunned and the Jedi would not do anything but defend the Duchess, even if it meant brokering some sort of peace. He would not have that. He balled his hands into a tight fist, thinking of what he could do.

"Are you ok?" He heard the young blond Jedi speak to the Duchess' sister and an idea quickly formed in his head. He swiftly and silently tore open the small cuts on his head and leg, causing a not insignificant amount of blood to pour out of them.

"Sir, are you injured?" One of the loyalist guards questioned him as he shook his head.

"Yes, and I don't think I'll be of any use out there." Mikehl answered, grunting in false pain. He wasn't all that injured, but he had to appear as if he was.

"But sir, what about the Duchess?" The guard questioned him. Mikehl had been the commander, the brains behind the war on their part. If he wasn't capable of leading them, then who will?

"I leave her in the hands of the Jedi. They'll can get us out of this mess, I'm sure of it." He stated as he turned to look towards Naruto, who frowned at his words, but he knew that they were the best shot they had.

"I'm sorry, Captain Sunn, but we are not participating in this war. Our mission is to defend the Duchess, not fight the war for you." Plo Koon intervened, but Naruto thought differently. He would help the Duchess.

"But Master, if we help them we can end this war quickly." Naruto argued as Plo Koon frowned slightly. What Naruto said was true, but that was not their mission.

"We cannot intervene." Plo Koon stated.

"To be frank Master Jedi, just by being near the Duchess you have intervened in this war. Don't be so naive to think that these rebels won't shoot you just as eagerly as her." Mikehl stated, smirking slightly as he saw the blond Jedi tighten his fist.

"He's right Master. We can't just sit here. Those people are suffering and _**dying**_ out there! There's no time for talk or protocols. We need to take action, now!" Naruto demanded, ready to take the field as the guards themselves readied their weapons. The insurgents would be upon them any moment.

"We need your help, Master Jedi." Mikehl plead Plo Koon, who again frowned. However, Naruto shook his head before he opened the door of the transport.

"Follow me!" He shouted as he ignited his saber, jumping out of the transport with the guards following after him, ready to do battle with the enemy. Plo Koon sighed at Naruto's brashness. The Order would not be pleased with Naruto's action.

Nonetheless, Naruto was his Padawan and his responsibility. He was also supposed to protect him as well. The Kel'Dor Master reached for his saber and moved to rescue his student.

 **Present Time**

"So that Mikehl Sunn guy, he pretty much tricked Naruto into fighting in the war?" Ahsoka questioned Siri who looked back fiercely as she nodded. The youthful and naive Naruto had been coerced into fighting any battle Sunn wanted, really. Captain Sunn was far more intelligent than he let on. He never let this side of him show in front of Satine or the other Jedi, keeping it solely between he and his personal forces, including Naruto. Thankfully, he had been given a diplomatic position after the war, so Siri was less motivated to carve him into pieces for turning her preteen foster brother into a war veteran. In regards to Ahsoka's question, she didn't want to cause any more trouble than she already had in the past, so she decided to deflect the question.

"Mikehl Sunn is a dangerous man with a dangerous craving for power. He's a genius strategist and a master manipulator and is likely the main factor as to why Satine's loyalists won the Civil War in the first place. He might even be smarter than Ross." This news shocked Ahsoka. Naruto might not gotten along with him, but he'd always held Ross' genius intellect in high esteem.

"So Naruto became the warrior he is because of everything that happened during the Mandalorian Civil War. But how he is still a pacifist?" She had been told that the Jedi's were peacekeepers in general and that taking up arms unnecessarily wasn't the Jedi way nor was using violence as a solution, but Naruto .

"He's willing to fight to ensures others do not have to. He's trying to minimize the suffering felt by the galaxy. Many times he has risked his life to save a single Clone, when most Jedi Generals and Commanders don't even blink an eye. To him all that matters is saving lives, and if taking up arms and using violence is the only way then he shall do just that." Siri elaborated, leaving Ahsoka more confused than before. For as long as she had known Naruto, this was something she wasn't aware of.

"Well, I'd best get going." Siri stated as she began to head towards the ship, leaving Ahsoka to her own thoughts as the two Jedi Generals embarked on yet another mission.

 **Onboard the** _ **Aken**_ **, In Orbit Above Kamino**

"What's the estimate on the enemy's strength?" Naruto questioned Ross, who looked down at a data pad.

"Totally unknown, but it should be light. It's just a listening post. Even if it is heavily guarded... two legions should be enough to capture it, as you said before." Ross answered as he went through the information. There wasn't much other than the location and their objective. Quite frankly, he himself didn't understand why the Chancellor wanted Naruto to deal with this. This seemed like a mission for someone who was below their ranks.

"Something seems odd." Naruto commented as Ross looked up from the datapad, an eyebrow raised. True that the mission was odd for someone so high in rank, but it was being kept tight lipped. Was there something that High Command knew that they didn't?

"What do you mean?" Ross questioned as Naruto frowned, watching the troops load onto the transport.

"What I mean is that... Look, I don't want you to think I'm thinking too highly of myself - and I'm sure as hell glad they pulled me off that watery wonderland - but why was _**I**_ pulled out of drill supervision and given orders to disable a _**listening post**_ while I'm technically still recovering on paper? Any experienced Jedi Knight given command of two Legions should be able to take out even a heavily entrenched listening post. They also chose not one, but two Jedi Masters and the most renowned Admiral in the entire Republic Navy to lead the attack, and if the Separatists are made aware of our arrival they would simply pull out their forces and abandon it. There's no point in committing a large force to defend a mere listening post." Naruto explained as Ross slight nodded in understanding.

"I actually came of my own accord. Anyone could've ferried you and Siri to this place, but I was actually getting bored of bombarding Felucia. Nevertheless, orders are orders and it's not our place to question them. But remember this is an outpost near enough that it can monitor Kamino, after all, and you were already stationed there. Maybe they're worried about the potential of invasion?" Ross stated as Naruto hummed at that. It made sense on paper, but Master Shaak Ti was also overseeing the training of new clones and she was on the Jedi Council and _**wasn't**_ injured. Well... neither was he, but High Command didn't know that just yet.

"Sir." Naruto was broken out of his thoughts as he looked up to find Fox standing before him. For all his efforts with the 10th Army, Fox had been made one of the few Clone Surface Marshals in the entire Republic army, a position usually reserved for normal humans. The addition of a few gold stripes on his armor, alongside a new shoulder cape and what Naruto mockingly called a half-skirt, signified his increased rank. In terms of said rank he was now equal to Naruto - capable of Commanding a Sector Army. He was filling the vacancy as General of the 10th Army while Naruto recovered. Naruto planned to make use of his new authority and split the 10th Army between the two of them for future campaigns.

"Hey Fox. I see that you're already good to go here as usual." Naruto questioned as Fox smiled.

"Oh, I'm just making sure everything's all set _on the Aken before_ we depart for the mission. I also wanted to get a look over the 644th. You didn't do a half bad job of training them up." Fox responded as Naruto nodded with a slight smile.

"How's King doing, by the way? I never actually heard if he was injured or not." He owed King his life after he was knocked out and almost executed at the hands of Count Dooku.

"He's fine. That bastard's so tough I don't think the entire Droid Army could take him down. Dooku didn't even scratch him. He hasn't been slacking off in his training while you've been gone either." Fox held King in very high esteem. Confident, bombastic, and capable as all hell, King was a model commander and had gotten a bit of a reputation in the GAR after the reports of his duel with Dooku came in.

"Oh, who's-" Naruto began, but Fox knew what the blond was going to ask and cut him off.

"Siri, of course. Teaching him all kinds of things. But of course he's dying to fight you again." Naruto only grinned in return.

"Then let's not keep him waiting shall we?" Naruto stated, resuming his walk towards the bridge. The sooner they get this mission done the better.

"He seems quite eager." Fox commented on Naruto's behavior. While he was still his usual self, Naruto seemed to be in a hurry.

"He wants to deal with this quickly, so he can head back to the frontline. I don't blame him, this whole thing probably won't take more than half a day at best" Ross responded as Fox turned to her, wondering what she meant by that.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that, Admiral. Aren't we always heading towards the frontlines?" Fox questioned with a smirk. That was Fox's cheeky sense of humor. Yes, they were tasked with taking out a listing post, but it was in the border region of Separatist-Republic space, so it was technically the frontline, right? Ross simply shrugged.

"Frontline or not, we got a job to do." said as he too resumed his walk to the bridge. It wouldn't be long before everything was all set with the legion loaded up and ready to go.

 **Yag'Dhul, Givin Domain**

Yag'Dhul was a small, barren planet in the Inner rim. It served as the base for the Confederate First Fleet, the personal fleet of General Grievous, but more recently as the command center for the Separatist's war efforts in the Southern Outer Rim.

Within the hermetically sealed capital city, Asajj Ventress - the new leader of Dooku's Dark Acolytes - had been summoned to the planet to execute a mission that would hopefully turn the tide of the entire war. As she entered the conference room, she saw many of the major players for the Confederacy listening intently to a holocommunication with the true leader of the Confederacy, Lord Sidious. Count Dooku was in the midst of giving his final send off, but as he moved to end the transmission his master gave him a final warning.

"Do not fail me again, Dooku. I trust that Uzumaki and his band will be dealt with completely. This is our only chance to end his nuisance. It would be extremely difficult to create a second opening."

"Yes, my Master. It will be done at once." Dooku spoke nervously as the transmission ended. Ventress looked on in disbelief. Either Sidious was very angry or Dooku was simply that concerned about failing to take down Uzumaki. Alas, Ventress had pieced together her mission.

"Surely one Jedi cannot be so important to the Republic. Even if he were on their High Council." Nute Gunray, Chairman of the Council, voiced his disbelief.

"If Naruto Uzumaki were on the Jedi Council he would have a voice in general military affairs, and I believe this war would be over rather quickly. Our efforts to have him promoted preemptively hopefully slowed down his advancement onto the Council - they don't like anyone going too far too quickly - but if we eliminate even one Jedi currently sitting on the Council, I get the feeling that Uzumaki would replace him in a heartbeat." Dooku retorted, somewhat short with the former Viceroy's ignorance. It wasn't every day that a Jedi was able to stand at his level. Neither Kenobi or Skywalker had been any threat to him on Geonosis or Rhen Var. But Naruto...

"I've seen his leadership first hand, I know what he's capable of. Lord Sidious and Count Dooku aren't out of line to plan this operation." Wat Tambor was perhaps the only person on the council that was in total agreement. He had been pushing to have Uzumaki assassinated for months. Ventress took that as her cue.

"That's why the Count called me in." She stepped out of the entryway and moved next to her master's side. "I'll be taking Uzumaki's head myself."

"You presume too much Ventress. There's no chance you would succeed alone. You will be taking several of your acolytes along." Ventress briefly grimaced in response to her Master's lack of confidence in her abilities. She hated her subordinate's consistent incompetence. "Alone, no one in the Confederacy aside from myself or Grievous stands a chance against the likes of Uzumaki, but there is power in numbers that even he may underestimate. Coordinate carefully and plan your strike strategically. Uzumaki won't fall only to a handful of acolytes. You must wait until he is distressed or distracted." Ventress nodded but remained defiant. She had faced two of Uzumaki's subordinates on Rhen Var and had done just fine delaying them.

"I get the feeling that your assassin isn't quite realizing the gravity of the situation, Count Dooku." Grievous had been staring down Ventress the entire time, having wanted to be the one to take out Uzumaki himself. He was quick to report her dismissal.

"So it seems." Dooku narrowed his eyes at his apprentice. "Ventress, this is not some game we are playing for you to have fun. Naruto Uzumaki is a Jedi Master with more skill and power than most of the High Council. His subordinates are also highly capable, and they are secondary targets. But believe me when I say that if you blunder, if you do not take this threat seriously, if you do not kill Uzumaki, there will be _**severe**_ consequences. And not just for you, but the whole of the Separatist movement." Ventress grit her teeth but held her tongue. She smiled her sinister smile and bowed before Dooku, Grievous, and the Separatist Council.

"It will be done, my Lords."

 **Somewhere near the Leritor System**

The two transports dropped out of hyperspace after barely an hour of hyperspace travel, heading straight towards the potato shaped planetoid before them. Their first priority was obviously to get in close and deploy.

"What's the report?" Naruto questioned, waiting for the scan of the oddly shaped dwarf planet.

"Nothing much sir. The only thing scanners are picking up is a large listening post and as suspected, a moderate force of Droids. Easily doable." Fox answered as Naruto narrowed his eyes. This seemed easy…too easy. The outpost didn't even have a planetary shield. The Republic should've sent one Venator to end the job with an orbital bombardment, but they were already here, and it wasn't as if they could call for reinforcements with the whole thing had a gag order on it.

"Alright, send out the jamming signal and set the ships down." Naruto ordered as the vessels were headed towards the planet at full speed. A problem with listening posts meant that they often picked up garbled or nonsensical series of transmissions. Naruto planned to use this to their advantage and mask their arrival.

Naruto felt that all of the pieces to this puzzle were put in the wrong place. He's taken out of recovery despite still being listed as wounded; his requisitioned forces are three times what they needed to be; two Jedi Masters sent on a mission that could easily done by a Knight, or even a capable Surface Marshal; a single Star Destroyer could bombard the outpost and complete the mission without any casualties; and to top it all off the whole thing is classified as a black op that only High Command and the Chancellor is allowed to know about?

Naruto was either a genius to realize, or the stooges at Republic High Command were complete and total morons.

 **Listening Post Command Center**

Aside from a bit of comms interference, the Separatist listening post was operating normally according to the tactical droid placed in command. Little did the droid realize that he was in for a very long day.

"Sir, we are receiving an incoming transmission." A battle droid reported to the tactical droid, who quickly ordered the droid to bring it up. A hologram of Count Dooku came to life as the tactical droid stood at attention.

"My lord." The tactical droid stated, knowing who this way.

 _"Two Republic transport ships are heading your way commander. Assume that any disruption in communications is likely them approaching. Ensure that they are destroyed. Leave no survivors."_ The Count ordered as the tactical droid nodded.

"Yes, Count Dooku." Was its response before the transmission ended. When given specific parameters of probability, tactical droids could prove quite formidable. At the end of the transmission, however, the tactical droid took note of Count Dooku lack of confidence.

"Ready the heavy anti-air cannons and pinpoint the source of that communication disturbance. Begin a blind surface-to-orbit bombardment in that area and mobilize our forces." The tactical droid ordered. It would use every possible resource at it's disposable to carry out its task, even if it meant deploying the invasion force early.

"Roger, roger." The battle droid responded.

 **In Orbit, aboard the** _ **Aken**_

"How long till touch down?" Ross questioned warily as Fox turned towards an officer for an ETA. Naruto's concerns had also put the gruff Admiral on edge, but before Fox could get an answer an explosion shook the ship.

"What was that?!" Naruto shouted as another explosion shook the ship.

"Sir, we are under fire from surface anti-air cannons!" An officer shouted as the ship began to shake violently as more shells from below peppered the ships lower haul.

"Divert all power to shields and prep both ships for immediate hyperspace jump!" Ross ordered, but it was too late. He looked outwards the bridge to the other transport and to his horror one of the anti-air cannon got a lucky shoot, blowing out the engine block, causing the ship to nosedive.

"Sir the _Ferry_ is going down!" Fox pointed out as Naruto nodded grimly at that. Siri was on that ship with the 497th, but there was nothing he could do to help.

"Let's hope they can manage on their own." Was Naruto's only response. There was nothing he could do but watch the ship go down. His own ship was in trouble and he had his hands full.

"Sir, we've just lost both our portside engines!" An officer shouted as Naruto's mouth twisted into a snarl, baring his teeth in frustration. Now his ship was going to take a nosedive as well.

"You need to cushion the crash!" Ross shouted to Naruto as he held on to dear life. Naruto nodded, already knowing that. He looked straight ahead of him, watching as the ship parted the clouds, causing the ground to become visible.

"Hold on!" Naruto shouted as he extended his hands out, calling upon all of his might in this Force to bring the ship at an angle to where it would crash land on its belly rather than the nosedive it was currently doing. Ross and everyone else were holding as they saw the ground appear closer and closer.

"Anytime now!" Ross shouted. He wasn't in the mood for dying today.

"Why don't _**you**_ try course correcting a whole ship with _**your**_ Force powers?!" Naruto shouted back as sweat dripped from his forehead, veins popping out. Deep down Ross wanted to throw his hand out just to see if it would help, but they were too close to the ground

"Urgh!" Naruto shouted as he finally was able to bring the ship to an angle just as it crashed into the ground causing it to skid across the surface.

"Hang on!" Naruto shouted as he then shifted the Force to bring the ship to an early stop. Looking around him, he was glad that the bridge was still intact, but some didn't make it.

"My head." Ross whined as he held his bleeding head, trying to stand firm.

"Glad I was wearing a helmet." Fox joked as he stood up. Ross rolled his eyes at that remark. Maybe he should start wearing a helmet as well?

"Everyone ok?" Naruto questioned as he looked around as the various officers and troopers started to gather themselves.

"Seems like most of the bridge crew survived sir. I'll go check the barracks for survivors and the hangars for transport but considering our angle I'm betting that most of our support craft are in the burning piles of scrap behind us." Fox stated, but he wasn't overly happy. Some of his brothers didn't make it and Naruto saw that as he slightly frowned.

"Don't worry, Fox. We'll pay them back." Naruto stated as Fox nodded with determination. His brothers would not have died in vain.

"I suggest who meet up with Siri. Her ship didn't crash that far out." Ross suggested, looking towards the other transport that had crashed a few miles out. Naruto nodded at that.

"Then that is what we will do. Salvage any equipment possible, AT-TE's, Walkers, whatever you find. Also gather our dead. We need to bury them." Naruto ordered. He would not let the dead to rot in this crash. He would bury them as he had done in the past.

 **Two Hours Later**

The crashes had been both worse and not as bad as Naruto and Ross predicted. The _Ferry_ had collided with a rocky formation and spun out of control, landing upside down. The bridge crew had all died and their barracks had been torn open. The 497th had lost over a third of its men, and the Captains of the 3rd and 16th companies had been among the casualties. Stoic and Wildride, the Captains of the 9th and 11th Companies, had serious injuries and had become comatose. The 5th set up a medical encampment and it wasn't long before Naruto and the 644th met up with them.

The _Aken_ was in complete tatters. The entire rear section had been grinded off by the crash and there wasn't a single working vessel they could use to transport their wounded. Naruto took those he could to find the _Ferry_ and returned with a few functioning AT-OTs that they converted into makeshift ambulances. All in all, they had just a handful of tanks and transports, no gunships, and of the 18,000 they had left with, only about 12,000 were still alive.

"Why do I get the feeling that this whole mission was a trap to begin with and the idiots at High Command were so paranoid they didn't realize they would be waiting for us?" King commented as Fox nodded as the two walked around behind their General.

"The General knew that something wasn't right. This is supposed to be a listening post and last I checked listening posts didn't have enough anti-air firepower to bring down two fully armed assault transports." Fox reasoned as King nodded. This whole operation didn't sit right with him.

"Then we'd best be on our guard. I don't think it will be long before the Seps send out a search party." King stated as he looked back to the advancing Clones and sweet dropped.

"And I'm telling you I won!" Storm argued with his brothers as the others' shook their head.

"No, you lost! Last I checked, I won that gamble, after all, my name is Gamble. How could I not win a bet?" Gamble fired back as Storm narrowed his eyes.

"You wanna go at it, you cocky punk?!" Storm confronted Gamble, who smiled, ready for a fight. Storm was well known for his close combat skills, but Gamble was confident he was the stronger of the two.

"Stand down at once you two! This is in gross violation of –" Blitz started to limp towards them but was pushed back by Storm charging him with his shoulder.

"You are your rules." He said with an eye roll as he raised his fist for a fight with Gamble, who mirrored him. However, before the two could fight, a shadow towered over them, causing them to stop.

"Ladies, what's with this rambling?" the two rambunctious Clones both turned and swallowed a lump. It was Bulk, and everyone rightly feared a fight with Bulk. His Cloning deformity made the guy almost twice the size of an average Clone!

"N-Nothing!" Storm said nervously as he resumed his walk. Bulk raised an eyebrow as he turned towards Gamble who was whistling as if nothing ever happened.

"I don't know how we've managed to survive this war so far." King commented as Fox chuckled. The 497th was made up of strange individuals, which to him was the greatest irony because they were all Clones of the same man.

"Who knows." Was Fox's only response. They got though the war so far and they would get through the rest as well.

 **With Siri**

Siri was not having a good time. First her ship was shot down, then she broke her wrist in the crash, and now she was stuck managing field hospital caring for a legion and a half, most of whom were rookies that were freaking out. The crash had broken them. Some physically, others mentally. She was at least thankful it was only her left wrist and not her saber arm, and it wasn't actively hurting so as long as she rested it, she would be fine.

"Where's Naruto already?" Siri muttered. It had been some time since he and Fang had left on their reconnaissance mission.

"We're actually getting a signal from the General just now." A Clone quickly reported to her as she thanked the Force for being convenient.

"Bring it up, already." She ordered as a hologram of Naruto appeared.

 _"Siri, what's going on? Give me a status report."_ Naruto ordered as Siri nodded.

"There are many dead and some have gone into shock. These Clones were not ready for something like this." She said bluntly as some of the Clones of the 644th nodded at that. Those words might be harsh, but they were true.

" _What's our total operational manpower?"_ Naruto asked grimly.

"Twelve thousand alive, but of that... maybe about three quarters are uninjured enough for active duty.

 _"Gather what you can and meet me at the coordinates I'm sending. Be ready to move out in an hour. It should take us at least that long to get there."_ Naruto ordered. While Siri became melancholic and blasé in times of crisis, Naruto became all business.

"Wait, what? You heard what I said right? There's no way we can- " She protested, but Naruto had already shut off his holocom. Siri through her uninjured arm into the air.

"Alright folks, you heard the General. Gather yourselves and your weapons. We move out in an hour." Siri ordered as the Clones quickly got to work. They might have been initially shocked and traumatized, but they were still part of the GAR. They had spent the past ten years - their entire lives - training for this. How could they know that the coming battle would be nothing like the simulations.

The hour passed quickly, and Siri had managed to almost piece together a full legion after some of the less injured clones were discharged, which wasn't a lot as they had lost quite a bit of their support equipment and considering the heavy fire they had come under from the beginning then they would definitely be needing some heavy firepower.

She had elected to leave behind Gamble, Bulk and Builder to oversee the field hospital, along with their companies to defend against any incoming droid attacks. Gamble was the Chief Medic of the 497th so got to work getting the troops back into fighting condition and Builder and Bulk got to work building defensive fortifications out of the wreckage of both crashes. Blitz was named their commander, as he was without a doubt the most capable leader in the Legion, a trait that even Naruto had yet to fully realize.

"General Tachi, I see Naruto's party!" She was quickly updated by King. She nodded as dropped from her salvaged AT-RT and headed to meet Naruto himself. The way down was depressing to say the least. The Clones of the 644th were as ready as they could be for a fight.

"There you are." Siri jumped as she heard Naruto's voice behind her.

"Stop doing that." She almost shouted while Naruto stared back. It seemed he wasn't in his usual lighthearted mood. He had arrived a few minutes earlier before the main force.

"Are our forces ready?" Naruto questioned sternly and stoically. 7600 clones. Naruto hated this margin. The more time they spent sitting around the more time the Droids had to build up their forces.

"I gathered what I could. Do you have any intel on the enemy's location?" She questioned him as Naruto nodded.

"Yes, and their base is massive, far too large to just be a listening post. It also has a powerful shield generator strong enough to deflect your average orbital bombardment. This place was likely intended to be a forward base for an invasion of Kamino." Naruto said as he pulled out a holodisk and activated it. "The Separatist base is located within a canyon system. There are two ways to approach it; from the North and the South." Naruto stated as he pointed at a fork in the canyon system.

"Dividing our forces?" She questioned but Naruto shook his head.

"It would normally be our best shot but there's no way we can coordinate a significant attack with our limited number. The droids would just focus down one group and then turn on the other. Infiltrating the base together is our best bet. Once we're inside and have the droid's attention, _**then**_ we can split up and force them to follow us. Our first priority is sending out a distress signal. We're doomed if we can't call in reinforcements ASAP." Siri nodded slowly. Their comms was down and they had no shuttles to get them off world. This was their only chance.

"But there are a few things we need to do before we can get off this rock. First, we need to get a distress signal out to Kamino. Any transport will be shot down by those AA guns... and so would the fleet. Which brings me to objective number two: we need to lower their shield from the command center." Naruto began the most troubling part of the briefing.

"So that the fleet can destroy the anti-air guns with an orbital bombardment... before the cannons can take aim and blow the fleet to hell." the 13th Company Captain and master of all thing's artillery, Crackshot, spoke up.

"Correct. We don't have anything left that could take down those guns. The fleet can only come in range _**after**_ the shield is down, so they can do the job for us... and that takes us to our last objective. Securing a CIS transport so that we're not in the base when the Fleet blows it to hell." Naruto finished the briefing and shut off the holodisk.

"That one doesn't sound too hard. I can handle that, even with my wrist." Siri

"You're right, it would be the easiest job, but there's one little problem." Naruto gestured to the docking area, which was currently occupied by three Trade Federation Core Ships, with a fourth currently docking. That all but confirmed it: the CIS was definitely planning an attack on Kamino.

"That's a pretty big problem, Uzumaki." Ross rubbed his bandaged forehead after breaking his long silence. A single Core Ship held over one hundred thousand droids. Their small force would be outnumbered almost 75-to-1.

"Siri, you're not in the best condition with that wrist, so once we're inside, I want you to take a team to disable the power relay for the shield. The engineering bays should be the most undefended once we make a big enough noise somewhere else." Naruto gave her his orders, and she didn't question them.

"I'm going too." Ross piped up. Looking between Naruto and Siri, who were both a little dumbfounded. Naruto started to dismiss the whole idea.

"You sure about that, Ross? This is going to be heavy ground combat. I don't think you're-"

"Believe it or not, I can handle myself in a firefight, Uzumaki. Besides, you said it yourself: Tachi is wounded. You'll need someone else able to complete the mission if anything happens to her." This earned Ross an elbow in the gut from Siri, who Ross swore whispered 'ass' under her breath before giving him a warm smile.

"That's one objective down, as for the other two... We'll need to infiltrate the Command Center to patch into their Comm systems.

"The 1st Company will take care of that." King volunteered, and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, having hoped King would volunteer. The 1st Company had thankfully suffered no casualties in the crash. They were a small team that wouldn't be easily noticed but were also capable enough.

"Then I guess that leaves me and you to capture the transport, eh, General?" Fox joked. Naruto almost smiled, but the weight of the situation had affect Naruto in a different way than most. He didn't back away from stress, he doubled down and tripled his efforts which often only caused him more stress.

"I guess it does. Fang, Storm, Hefty, Spirit, you're coming with me. Tricky, I want you to take the 15h Company and do your thing. Get in there and cause some mayhem. Do whatever you can to confuse their commander and make them send droids all over the place. The more chaos and confusion the better."

"Got it, Boss." Tricky, the Captain of 'Magic' Company, was renowned for misdirecting and confusing the enemy, which was a lot easier to do when most of your opponents are droids dumber than nails. His efforts would be invaluable.

"I wish you the best of luck, brother!" Captain Spirit, Commander of the 14th 'Shout' Company, roared out bombastically as the rest of his company cheered. Spirit and his troops were average in combat, but they made up for it with unrelenting gumption and an unbreakable morale. Spirit was long considered to be the 'soul' of the 497th, hence his nickname.

"Siri, I want you to take the whole of the 644th. Most of them are still back at base recovering from the shock, but if there's anyone who can teach them real combat, it's you. Take Crackshot, Flash and their companies so they have some examples to follow. The rest of you, you're with me. We're gonna need all the men we can get." Naruto steeled himself as he prepared for a long march into hell.

 **Meanwhile at the Droid Base**

"Shore up our defenses. The Republic survivors will surely attempt to commandeer one of our transports." The Tactical Droid ordered the Droids as the base was on high alert. It knew that there were two paths of attacks the Republic could use to attack the base with and it would defend both paths. The door slid opened, causing the Droid to turn around and see a white-skinned Dathomirian... Ventress. She was followed in by five others clad in dark clothing.

"Status report." Ventress questioned the Droid. She was sent out with a few dark acolytes and a few core ships to reinforce the outpost and to destroy the small Republic force that was shot down.

"The Republic vessels have been shot down, but there are signs of survivors. It will take time for them to reorganize and carry out an attack." The Tactical Droid reported as Ventress raised an eyebrow.

"Did you not send out a Force to find them?" She questioned the Droid which thought over the question.

"Uh…no?" The Droid questioned as Ventress shook her head. Droids were Droids in the end it seemed.

"Then do it. A crash that significant would have several wounded. They can't have gotten far. I have another mission I must attend to." Ventress stated as she turned and began to make her way out with her entourage. They were assigned to killed Naruto Uzumaki, someone who was starting to become a major threat to their master.

 **With Naruto**

The march wasn't all that long after all, partly due to their increased pace. In this situation, time was critical. The more time they spent, the more Clones that wouldn't receive adequate medical attention and the lower their chances became.

"I don't like this…it's too quiet. Surely they must've seen us coming by now." Storm commented. Everyone was on alert. They had their sole AT-TE marching up with their two AT-RTs, one in the front and one bringing up the rear. Looking around he saw how seriously exposed to attacks they were from all sides. The Droids could attack from above the canyon or they could block the rear and funnel them into a trap.

"Just keep your eyes peeled." Fox kept shifting his eyes all around. Naruto nodded in affirmation as he kept on looking forward. This had trap written all over it.

"I'm not sure when or what, but –" Naruto was cut off as he heard the sound of explosives going off. Looking back, he saw that the canyon walls at the very rear began to collapse, causing the rear to be blocked off.

"Incoming!" A Clone shouted as Naruto looked back and saw a vast number of Droids marching from the front. Quickly igniting his saber, he started to deflect incoming fire.

"Take cover! Siri, get inside the base!" Naruto shouted as the troopers quickly dived for cover while returning fire. Siri leapt from the lead AT-RT and rushed inside with Ross and the 644th close behind her, deflecting a few bolts that came too close for comfort. Ross briefly tripped over in the rush, but Siri grabbed him by his collar and hauled him inside and to his feet.

 **At the Crash Site**

"Bulk we need those heavy guns over here!" Builder shouted. He had quickly identified solid areas that they could use as cover and return fire from.

"On it!" Bulk shouted as he started to make his run carrying two turrets with a few of his brothers carrying the ammunition crates. He quickly dropped the turrets as he looked over the horizon to see waves of battle droids approaching. The search party had finally caught them. Bulk shouted with all his might, which was heard by every Clone in the camp.

" _ **Blitz**_ **!** We're gonna have _**company**_ **!** "

 **With Naruto**

"Suppressing fire!" the 12th Company Captain 'Hefty' shouted as he used his DC-23 minigun to lay down fire. His company followed his actions, providing suppressive fire for the others as they ran across the open ground into the base.

"Forward!" Storm shouted as his and King's companies charged forward in the Droid lines with Naruto, pushing the Droids back. As they did so, from further back the Droid lines a massive spider like Droid began to slowly move up. It had a balloon like head that had three laser turrets underneath each eye. However the Droid could do anything, its head was blasted right off of it by an AT-TE.

"Excellent aim as always, Crackshot!" Spirit praised heartily. Nothing was ever subtle or quiet with him around.

"Just doing my part." He reposed as he fired more Mass Driver shots downrange, clearing the path. As the Droids were being pushed back, Crackshot placed a final shot right into the side of the canyon wall, collapsing and trapping the droids in their own trap.

"I hope we're getting the worst of it, at least." Naruto said to himself as he deflected blaster fire.

 **With Blitz**

The situation at the camp was not good, not good at all. It the droids had elected to attack them in full force first. They hadn't even managed to fully man their defenses before they came under fire. The 644th boys had gotten distracted by the sound of explosives going off, focusing too much on finding a source they would never be able to see, and in that moment the Droids began their attack.

Blitz had elected to mount the 2nd Company on speeder bikes, and they began a mad rush at the droids from all sides in a complicated crisscross pattern that he'd developed. That managed to distract the droids down enough to get the soldiers that were still able to move into Builder's makeshift scrap bunkers, but there were at least 50,000 droids in this formation. There was no way they could hold out for very long.

 **With Siri and Ross**

"We need to lose them, now!" Siri shouted, as she sprinted through the base with an entire regiment of droids in hot pursuit. Ross was a different story. He was an Admiral and his expertise lay in space warfare. Ground combat was not a field he excelled in and he was constantly lagging behind Siri and the Clones, but he would be damned if he let the Jedi do all the work here. Borrowing a E-5 blaster from a Commando Drod Siri had cut down, Ross took aim and began blasting the door controls he passed by in an effort to cut off their pursuers.

They had split off from Naruto a lot sooner than planned and with far fewer Clones than expected. They were down to an injured Jedi, an Admiral, and maybe a thousand Clones and that number was waning fast. But there was no turning back now and they would have to make do. There was no way they could take on that many droids. After what seemed like an eternity of running through hallways, they had managed to reach a command console and seal the blast doors behind them. Their reprieve was a brief one, as they soon came under attack by two platoons of B1s, which was much more manageable. Fighting alongside the Clones Ross took notice of their tenacity up close. Even these 644th greens were capable fighting machines. Ross had determined that those in the 644th that had made it this far with them were the best of the best, future elite soldiers. They hadn't cracked under pressure after the crash, they hadn't panicked when they were caught in a trap, and they sure as hell weren't dying without a fight.

Blaster fire rained down upon them, and the sense of being trapped, outnumbered, and powerlessness began to settle in, he realized just how venerable the Clones felt during battle, and yet they still fought, even if it was a suicidal mission. That's when Ross heard a scream from behind him. Siri had been caught off-guard as was hit by stray blaster fire. One hit directly in her upper chest and the other her right thigh. Even with these new wounds, Siri pushed onward, ordering a tactical retreat and Ross followed down the hallway before suddenly grabbing Siri and pulling her into a side hall. A few clones stopped with them, but most walked right into the open room ahead and were face to face with an entire squad of droidekas, shields deployed and guns ready. As the B1s and B2s closed in from all sides, the six hundred or so clones that had been caught in the trap ahead and had no choice but to surrender. It wasn't long before the droids turned their attention to the small group that had escaped the trap.

"We'll cover you ma'am. You two need to make a run for it. Take my Bravo Company and make a break for it. Captain Flash, cover her." A Clone stated. He was one of the Captains the 644th, CT-553 and unlike his brothers he was not afraid of the coming storm.

"I'm not leaving you behind, I am not leaving anyone behind!" Siri responded as she clutched her wound. The pain was becoming greater from the blaster shots. She had been lucky when the blaster missed her vital organs.

"With all due respect General, this is what we were made for. To do our duty for the Republic and give our lives for it if need be. You're injured and in no condition to fight and Naruto told us how much of a high value target the Admiral is. I cannot let the enemy capture or kill you. You have to go, now!" The Captain shouted before he removed his helmet, turned to his men and started giving out orders to cover their retreat. Siri snarled as she was about to approach the Captain and tell him off, but stumbled and almost fell, being caught just in time by Ross.

 _"Dammit."_ She thought as her hand held the lightsaber tightly.

"That Captain is right Siri, we have to go." Ross spoke as Siri looked at him, a bit betrayed by what he had said.

"And leave them all to die? I will not let –" She couldn't finish her sentence as another wave of pain washed over her. Ross frowned at that.

"Siri, not many people survive a direct blast to the chest, especially not without armor. You're lucky to be alive as is, but if we have any hopes of getting of this planet this is it. I know you want to save them, but you cannot save _**everyone**_." Ross proclaimed causing Siri to stare at him for a moment in disbelief. She remembered those same words she told Naruto - the same words she told Ferus - and now she was in the same situation she had warned against.

"Fine. But don't you dare die on me." She replied as she stood up and began to head towards the opening, Ross quickly following after her. The Captain nodded as he turned to his brothers and fellow captains . Flash, the only other Captain present from the 497th, gathered Rush and Bravo Companies, a total of about a hundred and change troops, and began to run off with Siri and Ross in tow.

"Provide suppressive fire, men! For the Republic!" Crackshot shouted as the troopers let out a war cry, blasting at ever Droid in their slights as the Droids marched closer and closer. This would be their last stand, their finest hour.

 **With Ventress in the Command Center**

Ventress smiled as she observed the battle from the command center and noticed everything was going as planned. The Clones and Jedi had been split up prematurely and were going to separate objectives. Siri's forces had been quickly neutralized and most had surrendered. The Jedi woman and the Admiral had managed to slip into the base, but they would be dealt with soon. The reports had come in that the enemy field hospital had been captured with relative ease, but she was not pleased with how much time it had taken them to deal with a ragtag bunch of injured Clones.

"You two, take care of those intruders. The blond woman and the eyepatch are the secondary targets Dooku mentioned. High value, and do not underestimate her. She's wounded, but she's still a Jedi Master. Capture Mr. Eyepatch alive if you can, Dooku wants him on our side in the future. And I shouldn't need to warn you what will happen if they manage to take down those shields." Ventress' threat carried two meanings as ordered the two acolytes immediately behind her. If they didn't succeed, they would either die in the Republic's bombardment or die by her hand. They nodded in acknowledgement and quickly set out to assassinate Siri. Ventress kept her eyes on the battle and saw that Naruto was making significant progress towards the hangar.

"The four of us will be going for the head." She set her eyes on Naruto." She ordered the last of the acolytes to follow her. Naruto was an extremely capable opponent and they would need to choose the perfect moment to engage him. Then, she noticed the officers of the 497th were also contributing significantly.

"We'll have to take care of those pesky officers too. That Surface Marshal in particular." Ventress gestured to the holoscreen. If the 497th leadership could be wiped out, then the rest would follow soon after. With that, the four of them set out to assassinate Naruto.

 **With Ross**

Ross sighed as he leaned back to sit down in the hall. They had manage to lose their pursuers thanks to the sacrifice of their comrades, but Siri's condition was worsening by the second. She'd been fading in and out of consciousness for a few minutes now.

"Damn droids…" Siri whispered to herself, causing Ross to get her attention. He looked towards her as he saw how frustrated she was.

"Why wage war? So many people have to suffer and die for nothing…" She ranted to herself. She had fought in many battles and she had saw so many had died and all for what? A war that made no sense. Not to her, not to the Clones and not for anyone that had to fight and die in it.

"It's not a pointless cause, you know." She was broken out of her thoughts by Ross, who was checking his blaster.

"And why is that?" She questioned him, irritated but also slightly curious.

"Because I can understand how the Separatist worlds feel. They have been left out, forgotten by the Republic and the Senate who's only concerns seem to fall on the core worlds. For some, especially those in the Mid or Outer Rim, the Republic truly doesn't care about the harm they do to the lower classes for the sake of Inner Rim trade. Half of the outer rim is completely forgotten and left in the hands of the Hutts. I wasn't the least bit surprised when the Separatists declared open rebellion." Ross explained as Siri frowned.

"If the Separatists felt so left out, then they should have talked, not built a secret army. War is not always the answer. What would they do after they win the war? Gain independence, force the Republic to pay for the war? That would only plant the seeds for another war." Siri reasoned as Ross shook his head. As much as she didn't understand, she was also right. If the CIS won independence through a military victory rather than diplomacy, then there would undoubtedly be another war in the near future, and it would be far more brutal than this one. Both sides had rather small militaries after centuries of peace and demilitarization. The sequel would not have the same handicap on violence.

"I don't disagree with you Siri, but that doesn't change the fact that the Senate should've voted to acknowledge their secession. Trust me, I know why so many worlds sided with Dooku." Ross wasn't necessarily opposed to the violence - hell, it had at least made his job a hell of a lot more interesting, but he was definitely opposed to the Republic on this matter, only staying out of loyalty.

"What the hell would a pretty boy dog of the military like you know about it?" Siri shot back. Ross briefly considered the pretty boy compliment but realized that people weren't often convinced of your beliefs if they didn't know your story.

"I was born on Atzerri. Pemblehov District." Ross dropped the mother of all proton torpedoes that immediately silenced Siri after a brief gasp. Whether it was out of shock or just another byproduct of the pain, Ross wasn't sure, but he decided to elaborate anyways.

"I can tell you know of the place's reputation, and I can tell you that I know firsthand how the Republic has never given a damn about what happens to the people there. My own mother was heavily addicted to all kinds of other illegal narcotics that purchasable openly on the streets of that lawless swamp. By the time my brother Roland was six she had already drained her savings. She managed to get clean long enough for me to be born healthy later that year, but she went right back to using after just a few weeks. She got us into debt, deeply into debt... Shirt - off." Ross began to remove his heavily decorated Navy coat that he'd always kept so pristine, ripping off the sleeves and tearing at the fabric. Siri realized his intent and removed the jacket of her red pilot suit and then her shirt and undergarment, leaving her bare chest fully exposed. The Clones looked away hastily, some blushing slightly under their helmets, but Ross remained focused as he began to dress her most serious wound first.

"Ross... I-I don't know wh-" Siri began, but she winced in pain as Ross began tightening her improvised bandages. She was too weak to give him her sympathies.

"It's fine, but I'm sure you do know what happens to addicts that can't pay their debts. First, they took my father and sold him into slavery. I don't remember him much, I was only four. I guess they didn't want to deprive themselves of a repeat customer, but they came for her a year later. For a while it was just me and my brother living in the streets. We followed the only examples we knew, the gangsters that kept visiting us, and pretty soon we had our own little gang and we were dealing death sticks ourselves. We took over the whole district, then most of the city, and kicked the bastards that sold our parents to the curb." Ross realized that he didn't have enough fabric to tie the bandage, so he removed his eyepatch and snapped the band, using it to extend and tie everything together.

Siri took the moment to observe his left eye in close detail. He'd never removed his eyepatch for anything, even wearing it in his sleep. She quickly observed that there was no trace of an eye. Skin had been grafted over his socket, the only indication there ever was an eye there were the numerous scars. Ross really didn't need the eyepatch, but the nerves had been completely burned and he couldn't use a cybernetic replacement. It was probably more a matter of pride than any insecurity over the rather tame wound. He helped her replace her purple undershirt, but her jacket became his next victim as he cut and tore out the inner cloth lining.

"Is that why you were do dedicated to hunting pirates and slavers? Because of your parents?" Ross remained silent, but Siri knew the answer as he supported her back while she slid down her leggings so that he could wrap her thigh as well. "How'd you end up in the Republic Navy after all that?" She asked a different question that she hoped was slightly less traumatic.

"Zels, believe it or not." Ross surprised Siri once again with that tidbit of information. She stared in silent disbelief for a moment.

"Zels... as in Zels Marck? Your subordinate, Rear Admiral of my 14th Corps?" She winced again as Ross wrapped her leg. She had overexerted herself on the leg and the wound had gone very badly. She needed medical attention fast. These bandages would not last long with this much bleeding.

"The one and only, he was with the security forces back then." Ross smiled briefly, reminiscing their very first and very awkward meeting. "He came to Atzerri to investigate the activity of yours truly. He was surprised to see a teenager running a street gang, and so effectively. We tried fighting them off, but this was the Republic constabulary. We didn't last long against them, even with my countermeasures. Instead of arresting me, Zels simply took me under his wing. He saw my potential and now, twenty years later, I'm an Admiral in the Republic Navy. Hell, I'm _**the**_ Admiral as far as most people are concerned." Ross again did what he could to support her, so she could put her red pilot leggings back on, but she was still strained greatly pulling them up.

"What happened... to... your brother?" Siri asked between breaths.

"I don't know. I know that Roll and the rest of the gang each got at least a decade in prison, they've probably all been released by now. He's probably not exactly eager to see me again after I abandoned him to take Zels' deal." Ross answered wearily. The day of the raid was last day he had spoken with his brother Roland. Ross looked up to notice that Siri had fallen unconscious again. She probably didn't hear a word he just said.

"This battle really is too much for me..." Ross said as he rubbed his calf tenderly. All this running was really getting to him as well.

"Then allow us to end it prematurely." Ross quickly stood back up as they saw two females walking down the hallway. One a brown-skinned Zabrak, the other a dark-blue Twi'lek, the both wore dark robes and had silver cylinders on their belts - lightsabers.

"So Dooku's little girls have come out to play." Ross put up a false bravado behind his mockery, but he knew this was a fairly awful situation. Droids he could handle. But Dark side users? No thanks. In a snap decision, Ross and the Clones immediately pulled up their blasters and began firing. As the two acolytes activated their red sabers and began deflecting the bolts back into the Clones, Ross took advantage of this brief moment to grab the unconscious Siri and place her in a fireman carry, remarking how light the blonde was for her height. He also grabbed their dissected clothing before breaking into the fastest sprint he could manage.

It wasn't long before the Clones either fled or were cut down by the acolytes, and Ross quickly made use of Siri's pilot jacket, tossing it at the pursuing acolytes. It didn't slow them down much as they cut through it. Ross then went to throw his coat, briefly hesitating for a moment when he saw his Cross of Glory, but quickly relented and let it breeze behind him as well. Using his now free hand, he grabbed the E-5 blaster and turned around to aim for the Twi'lek acolyte that had her vision obscured by the jacket. However, the Zabrak reacted with the reflexes of a Force user and electrocuted him with a brief barrage of Force lightning. Ross stumbled and fell to the ground, reeling in pain. Siri's limp body went rolling through the hallway before coming to a stop a few meters ahead. He turned onto his back to blast the acolyte again, but he was quickly subdued by the Force and thrown against the wall, knocking him out as well.

"Ventress said to bring this one back alive. Dooku's hoping to convert him to our side." the Zabrak woman said.

"I can see why, the bastard almost killed me twice. I guess I should be grateful that you covered me." the Twi'lek half-thanked her Zabrak partner.

"Apparently, he's actually an Admiral, and we Dooku's definitely needs more of those."

"Seriously, this guy's even better on a ship? Could've fooled me, asshole." the Twi'lek delivered a heavy kick into Ross' unconscious side. The two were pulled away by the hum of a lightsaber. They turned and found the purple blade responsible.

"Step away from him... you bitch." Siri growled as she struggled to stay on her feet, having woken up from the impact. She limped slightly as she moved to defend Ross. The two acolytes began their offensive, moving in sync to get her off guard. At first she was able to manage the incoming strikes, however, her grievous wounds were not helping her one bit and with each strike the pain was only growing.

"How can you defeat us when you're half dead already?" the cocky Twi'lek reminded, a smirk plastered on her face as Siri blocked an incoming strike that strained her broken wrist greatly. Siri pushed the offending acolyte back, however before she could go on the attack she was once again forced to go on the defense as the Zabrak began focusing on her right side.

"Her leg." the Zabrak pointed out as they began to target the side of her weakened leg and overwhelm the Jedi Master with pain. However, that was not necessary as their strikes were enough to cause the exhausted Siri to falter and fall to her knees. She raised her saber in defiance to block one last strike, but her wrist finally gave way and her blade was knocked out of her hands.

"Now...you die. Any last words, girlie?" the Twi'lek stated as she raised her saber but couldn't bring down the strike as she was struck in the back of her head by blaster bolt, falling to the ground dead.

"Saa'mara!" the Zabrak shouted in surprise and she turned back to see the Admiral kneeling behind them, his shirt singed and tattered from her lightning.

"Third time's the charm, it seems." Ross panted, still a bit disoriented as he had just been electrocuted and thrown against a wall. The Zabrak acolyte growled as she quickly deflected a few blasts from the Admiral, who calculated the angle of reflection and dodged accordingly. Siri held on for a few more seconds as Ross kept rushing towards the acolyte before blacking out once again. Ross grunted as the Zabrak rushed forward and disarmed him with a high kick. But Ross took advantage of her weakened footing and tackled the acolyte hard, knocking her saber out of her hands. Dragging her to the ground, Ross began pummeling her face as hard as he could. He kept going at it long after the Zabrak's face became bloody and she passed out from concussive force. Grabbing Siri's lightsaber, Ross began shaking the Jedi in an effort to keep her conscious.

"W-wake up, Siri. We've gotta get out of here." Ross said to himself as he rapidly took in air. Siri was half awake, which was better than nothing. Grabbing his blaster, he lifted Siri to her feet, arm around her shoulder and quickly made a run for it down the hall. He was too weak to carry her on his back anymore and they still had to take down the shield. Getting Siri out of danger would be his first priority, then he should be able to figure out what to do next.

 **Hangar Bays**

Fox and the others had infiltrated the base as well and had overheard one of the Droids mentioning that a bunch of Clones had been captured. It seems like Siri's forces had been captured and were being held prisoners.

"Think General Tachi doing is fine?" Storm questioned Fox as the two made their way to the holding area.

"Don't worry, your wife will be just fine." Fox joked, causing Naruto to do a double take and Storm to almost trip over his own feet.

"For the last time, I do not have a crush on her!" Storm insisted as Fox chuckled.

"Sure you don't. Your eyes definitely aren't affixed to her backside while she's walking out of a room." Fox replied, only to get smacked on the helmet, forcefully, by the saber hilt of a displeased Naruto. His stress level had reached its peak, and he wasn't in the mood to even be around jokes. That was also his sister they were talking about.

"Be quiet. Or did you two not notice the hundreds of thousands of droids beneath us?" Naruto had been mostly silent after they disengaged combat and made their way into the building. They hadn't encountered any droids since, and Naruto had realized why when they noticed all of them were guarding the hangar bay.

"This whole operation was built as a trap for us, and me specifically. Everything, from the crash to the prisoners, was meant to try and make me lose my head and act rashly. They want me to go try and save those prisoners. They know my habits almost more than I do. The Separatists have been studying me. I don't know whether or not to feel honored or repulsed." Naruto grumbled out. He was not in the best of moods. He'd lost plenty of friends in the crash, and he had no idea how Siri was faring on her own without any troops to support her.

"Makes sense. They also gave you just enough misinformation to think you could succeed with a small force. When did you figure that out?" Fox agreed with this conclusion, but Naruto wasn't so pleased over it.

"I knew it the moment I saw the size of this compound. But the existence of the trap alone doesn't explain how they knew _**I**_ would be the one leading the expedition. They know I was injured on Rhen Var and they shouldn't know about my healing capabilities. The only one who knows about it are..." Naruto paused. He'd asked himself this very thing countless times over the past hour, and no matter what answer he came up with, he didn't like it. He thought back to what Obi-wan had told him on the _Negotiator_ over Rhen Var - that someone had been feeding misinformation and reporting their deployments, and that it had to be coming from the officers of the 3rd Systems Army or Republic High Command, but this was a black op, which Naruto now figured was to prevent anyone from looking for the missing Legions, and the only ones who knew about it were...

"No matter how you look at it, there has to be a mole somewhere within Republic High Command feeding the Separatists information, and they also misdirected us here. Unprepared and undermanned. They've been doing this for a while, too. I hadn't figured it out until now because it could all have been unfortunate coincidence, but now I'm certain. You don't lay out a trap this personal without having insider info. The CIS is trying to assassinate me and they're using a mole in High Command to do it. I can't say I blame them considering our track record." Naruto had almost pieced the entire puzzle together, but he couldn't just storm into the High Command office and start investigating everyone as an alleged traitor.

"You're forgetting other common factors, but I... uhh..." Fang chimed in and a surge of anger briefly welled up within Naruto, but he calmed it quickly.

"There's no way Siri would ever do anything like that, and Ross came of his own accord and didn't know the mission details until after we arrived on Kamino. This trap would take time to set up and the time it took for us to get here wouldn't enough. Second of all, he wouldn't put himself in danger like this. He might have become less of a selfish ass, but he still is one. Besides, if Ross was a mole and wanted info on me, he would've met me with a much friendlier attitude. I supposed it's still possible, but... agh! I don't want to think about this anymore, we have to focus on what's in front of us. The Seps want me to try and free the Clones they captured, probably so they can surround us with this here army when we do. So... what do we do instead?" Naruto quizzed the three Captains. Storm raised his hand first. He was alarmingly excited to answer that question.

"Blow said army to smithereens?" Storm postulated, and Naruto's familiar smirk came to life. It seems talking through it managed to alleviate the stress of the situation.

"Correct. Now watch and learn, boys. I have a few new tricks to show you." Naruto said before leaping off the catwalk and into the middle of the droid's formation. The droids all slowly turned and just stared. "Hello there." Naruto greeted with a warm smile as green energy began to crackle in the palm of his hand.

"Hello!" a B1 Captain responded enthusiastically, going as far as giving Naruto a brief wave. He was pleased to even be acknowledged but that feeling of recognition faded when he did a double take. "Wait a minute, aren't you-?" the B1 began to question

"General Naruto Uzumaki, Jedi Knight of the Republic? Yeah, that's me." Naruto continued to smile as the green energy intensified.

"Aww, you're gonna kill all of us, aren't you?" the B1 responded, very disappointed with the turn its day had taken. It didn't even bother raising its blaster in self-defense.

"Yep." Naruto threw out his hand and launched a torrent of green lightning that fried the circuits of every droid in range. He began a sweeping 360-degree arc, clearing out several thousand of the tightly packed droids in one fell swoop before activating his dark blue lightsaber. In the rafters, the Captains of the 497th all had their jaws dropped under the helmets.

"He couldn't do that before, could he?" Storm asked, completely dumbfounded.

"Definitely not. He should teach all of us how to do that." Fang was very intrigued by the prospect of being able to shoot emerald lightning from his hands.

"That's Electric Judgement, so unless you boys suddenly become Force sensitive you're outta luck." Fox replied with a large degree of snark. "Seems that he finally learned his Master's original technique. Well boys, we'd better get down there before he gets himself killed."

"Yes, sir!" the Clones responded before attaching their grappling hooks to the rafters and descending into the chaos below, blasters ablazing.

 **CIS Command Center**

King was having a much easier time making his way to the Command Center. He had taken the 1st Company as a formality to , spread out and cause as much mayhem in the base to divide the Droids up. Thankfully, most of the Droids were on the outside and many more were no active. Rounding a corner, he saw the Droid commander center.

"Close the blast doors!" King heard the Tactical Droid as he broke into the fastest sprint he could manage. The blast doors started to close as King quickly jumped through the small gap and rolled to a stop. Looking up, he saw a B1 Battle Droid.

"You're under arrest." The Droid ordered, but King only chuckled. These poor clankers didn't know they had just sealed their fate, literally, by closing those blast doors. He drew his twin pistols in a flash and began blasting all of the Droids, quick and easy. After he fried the circuit board of the tactical droid commanding everything, he moved to take control of the command center, reopening the blast doors that were trapping him in. He then moved to the comms relay and began repositioning the communications satellites for a clear transmission to Kamino. It would take some time for the relay to realign, so he started to shut down the base's autoturret defenses at the operations desk.

 **With Ventress**

Ventress and her three companions were content to walk to their hangar destination, albeit at a brisk pace. Ventress knew that she alone was no match for Naruto in direct and prolonged combat, and there was still a chance that the four of them together would fail, but she had roughly 700,000 droids at her disposal in this base and she planned to use them. The torn and tattered 497th would inadvertently force the overly-compassionate Naruto into a situation that would make it child's play to wipe them all out. Ventress began to hear a low hum and she looked outside to notice the comms dishes were changing position. She looked up and noticed that the autoturrets had also been rendered immobile.

"Dammit, Uzumaki must've snuck into the command deck behind us. Clever bastard." Ventress spat out. She looked back to the acolytes and tried to think of a way to salvage the situation. She made a quick decision, hoping it wasn't made in too much haste. "I will go back to stall Uzumaki. Move quickly and execute those officers, then meet up with me in the command center." She ordered. The three kept running forward as Ventress turned on her heel and launched herself with the Force back the way she came.

 **Engineering Bay**

Ross had finally managed to take a breath once he and Siri had reached the Engineering Bay. The place was sparsely guarded by just a handful of B1s. He found an unused storage room and left Siri there, hoping she would be safe while he completed their mission. As Ross sleuthed his way past the droids, he finally reached the shield relay and took a metal cylinder from his belt. Igniting the purple blade he'd borrowed from Siri, he rammed it directly into the control panel. As the electrical systems went haywire, Ross felt a bit of a shock, but it was nothing compared to what he'd experienced earlier.

Ross used the confusion to slip past most of the droids once again, only having to blast a few curious onlookers that saw him leaving. As he jogged back into the hall he stopped dead in his tracks. The Zabrak Sith acolyte had caught up with them, and her bloodied face was contorted in pure rage.

"I'm here to pay you back for what you did to my pretty face, and for what you did to Saa'mara." the Zabrak spat out, her words seething with even greater hatred than her face.

"If anything, I merely rectified its flaws. You're much cuter when you're angry." Ross quipped back.

"And your little will look so much cuter when she's screaming as I slowly carve her flesh off piece by piece. I'll take care of after I've dealt with you. She's in that old storage room nobody uses, right?" Ross winced at her last words and quickly damned himself when the Zabrak smiled in return, her theory confirmed. He'd taken the bait and given away Siri's location. "Now you die, pest." She screamed bloody murder as she charged forward with her blade held high. Ross saw right though the one dimensional attack and brought up Siri's lightsaber in the nick of time. The Zabrak had expected a bisected Ross to crumple to the floor, not this.

"Surprised?" Ross asked with a grin. The woman wasn't so much amused as she was enraged. This annoying prick was costing her way too much time.

"That blade won't give you the power to defeat me, cyclops." Ross scoffed at the unoriginal insult. The Zabrak launched into a series of broad and powerful saber strikes that were meant to intimidate rather than harm. He found the lightsaber considerably more difficult to use than a vibroweapon or stun baton, but Ross fell back on his time on the streets. He remembered using blunt weapons to beat the hell out of the slaving bastards that sold his parents and ruined his life. He also recalled the basic melee training that Republic Security went through all the same and managed to defend himself... somewhat adequately, at best.

"No, but it does let me fight you on even terms until my reinforcements arrive." Ross bluffed. He was definitely having trouble, but Ross kept up the arrogant facade as his opponent realized she wasn't instilling as much fear in him as she'd intended. Her attacks started becoming serious attempts on his life, but Ross felt himself getting the hang of Siri's lightsaber, improving his defense as she stepped up her attack.

"Holding a lightsaber doesn't make you a Jedi, you scum!" the Zabrak roared. After just a minute of this the girl was completely furious, and Ross knew if he just pushed her buttons a little more...

"Oh my, that's the closest thing you've done to permanent damage the entire time we've known each other. The last thing I want is to be compared the likes of Uzumaki." Ross feigned anguish enraged the Zabrak more, causing her to launch forward in blind rage. Ross raised his blade to defend but deactivated it at the last moment before stepping aside. The Zabrak stumbled over her own feet as she tried to correct herself but ended up falling to the floor. Ross took the opening to make a run for the supply room. He was pleasantly surprised to see an awakened Siri resting against the wall.

"Ross! You're back, what happened?" She felt totally lost after being unconscious for the past ten minutes or so.

"Shield down, Sith woman chasing us, time to run!" Ross spoke as quickly as possible, grabbing Siri by the arm before she could finish asking him to repeat himself. She yelped in a bit of pain, but he assumed that pain was preferable to death. He pulled Siri close to him in an effort to take weight off her leg. It was only a few minutes until Ross heard the sound of footsteps catching up behind him. The Zabrak girl had almost caught up with them. Ross had to reach around Siri's waist to grab his blaster and fired a few rounds, forcing her to back off a bit.

"Blaster fire isn't going to slow a Sith down for long." Siri notified him rather snidely.

"I know, but I haven't any better ideas at the moment. Care to contribute for once?" Ross retorted with his own snide remark. Siri hesitated for a moment before speaking again

"Hand me your blaster, I'll be fine on my own for a second." Ross complied after firing another series of blasts at their pursuer. Siri immediately felt pain surge up her leg as Ross stopped supporting her, but she soldiered on, opening the blaster's power cell compartment and messing with the settings. "Okay, I'm done. Shoulder please." Siri immediately latched back onto Ross' shoulder, feeling the weight of the world leave her leg. "Toss it." she said.

Ross hesitated for only a second. He began running backwards for a moment, throwing the blaster full force. Certainly enough, the Zabrak followed Siri's prediction and made the mistake of slicing it in two. The power cell immediately ruptured, and the resulting explosion engulfed an entire section of the hallway. The flame was rapidly catching up to the two of them. Ross thought quickly as he took Siri's blade from his belt and cut into a wall panel, sealing the blast doors behind them. Finally having another moment of respite, Ross took the opportunity to apologize.

"Heh, sorry. Borrowed it without asking." He said, handing back the saber as Siri smiled. She didn't say anything, she only chuckled between pants.

"Hey guys. I know you're probably tired and all, but would you mind letting us out?"

Siri and Ross looked to one another, confused, before realizing that a third voice was present. The two of them looked down a hallway to see rows of cells filled with thousands of captured and injured Clones. She saw none other than Flash waving at the two of them with a cheerful smile, eager to be released from his holding cell.

 **In the Command Center**

The comms dishes had finally aligned, and King took notice on a display panel that the shield had been dropped. Siri must have finally come though. He went to the comms station and began his broadcast.

"This is CC-01/1293 of the 497th sending a paralevel one emergency signal. We are stranded on a dwarf planet near the Leritor sys–" King was forced to stop as he ducked and rolled to avoid the saber flying towards him. He quickly turned to the offending party and looked up at his enemy, his heart getting a brief sinking feeling.

"Trying to call your little friends, Commander?" Ventress mocked as King narrowed his eyes. "I had hoped to find your General here, but I'll settle for killing you instead." King responded with a 'come here' motion, causing Ventress to snarl at his disrespect.

Unsheathing his vibroknives and quickly going on the offensive. One thing he had learned from sparring with Naruto and Siri was that when it came to fighting Force sensitive beings, it was to keep them on the defensive to ensure they didn't use their Force abilities too much. For Ventress, King's speed proved to be a surprise as he was already upon her, forcing her to defend, however, she was once again caught off guard as he deflected her saber with remarkable power and hooked his arm and twisted her shoulder out of socket, causing her to scream in pain and drop the saber she was hold in that hand before he delivered a very hard punch to her face, sending her into the wall hard. She began to reach out with the Force to pull him back towards her, but she was greeted with his helmet impacting her undefended face, disorienting her.

 _"How is this possible?!"_ Ventress thought to herself in outrage. _**She**_ was the leader of Dooku's acolytes and _**he**_ was nothing more than a damn clone! She took a moment to relocate her shoulder, grimacing from the sharp pain. After a brief respite, she summoned her saber back into her hand and looked up at her target, once again at the controls sending their distress signal in another chunk. Letting out a war cry, Ventress charged at King, forcing him away from the controls again. Anticipating her moves, King used his spinning momentum to get on her side and land a few strikes on her flank to keep her off balance. Ventress was not amused.

 **Communications Room, Tipoca City, Kamino**

Ahsoka had spent the last few hours causing a bit of gleeful mayhem against the Republic Security forces present on Kamino, dyeing their uniforms her and Naruto's favorite orange color and she had even broken into the armor manufactory and messed with the color cartridges. She really hoped the 649th enjoyed their pink-striped armor.

For now, though, she was content to laze about in the comms room on her datapad. The place was usually pretty empty, but now it was completely silent after she mind tricked the two Clones officers to go on an extended break. She ignored most of the incoming transmissions, as they were typically just a bunch of military jargon she didn't understand, but all of that changed when a series of red lights in the room lit up in response to a paralevel one order. She immediately turned her attention to the incoming signal and tried to isolate it as best she could.

"...CC-01/1293 of the 497th sending a paralevel one emergency signal. We are stranded - ...Leritor system encountering tremendous Separatist aggression. Any Republic ships in the vicinity please provide search and rescue at the following coordinates... 25-35- agh - dammit!"

Ahsoka didn't recognize the voice, but she did recognize two things. One being the 497th Legion, which was the name of Naruto's personal troops! The second thing she recognized was the hum of a lightsaber and the distinct whine of vibrotech weaponry as well as a few clashes between the two. She hesitated for a moment, but then decided to oust herself by making an emergency announcement over the PA system.

 **Simulation Room, Tipoca City**

Shaak Ti stood in the observer platform watching the newest squad of Clone Commando finalize their training. She was truly impressed by their independence and complete dominance in combat.

"Well done, Sergeant. I think this squad is ready for field assignment." Shaak Ti congratulated their trainer - a short, greying man near his 60s. He wore sand gold Mandalorian body armor and always smiled tersely.

"Just trying to do right by my boys, ma'am. And please, call me Kal." He responded with the same warmth he always did. He was nothing like the others drill sergeants and bounty hunters that had been hired to train the Clones. He always looked upon them as his sons, or 'boys' as he so often called them. He was saddened that their contract had expired, and the Senate had not elected to renew it.

"I'll try to remember it... Kal." Shaak Ti smiled back. She was about to observe the next group when the simulation disappeared in response to the emergency PA announcement.

"Hi, uhh... Oh, darn how am I supposed to know if this thing's even on?" Shaak Ti immediately recognized the voice even through all the feedback and excessive background noise of the announcer fiddling with the controls. "Uhh, hi! Hello! This is... Ahsoka Tano. I'm calling for Master Shaak Ti. Could you come to the communications rooms? Please? I think Naru might be in trouble. Uhh... thank you!"

"Friend of yours?" Kal asked, barely suppressing his chuckle.

"Unfortunately..." Shaak Ti droned in response.

 **Communications Room**

"So you're saying you just happened to be in the communications room when we received a paralevel one distress signal from the 497th's Marshal Commander?" Shaak Ti questioned her fellow Togruta. Not believing her made up story about the Comms Officers asking her to monitor the room while they went on a short bathroom break. Ahsoka only nodded in response to avoid exposing her mischief further. "He said they were in danger on a moon-"

"Dwarf planet, technically." Ahsoka corrected.

"Right... dwarf planet... in the Leritor system." Ahsoka nodded again and Shaak Ti turned to Kal. "As a member of the Jedi Council and a General of the Republic, would I be allowed to commandeer the Kaminoan Defense Fleet in an emergency?" Kal simply shrugged in response. He was an instructor, not a military officer.

"I guess it would be best to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. Naruto is invaluable to the Republic and leaving him and King to die would be... quite unfortunate. Kal, could you please issue an emergency order to prepare the Fleet for a short-term search and rescue?" Shaak Ti tried her best to conceal her emotions, but she would've taken the fleet regardless. Naruto was her temporary Padawan after all and she wasn't about to let him die. Kal could tell Shaak Ti had more than just mutual respect for this 'Naruto'.

"I can do anything, ma'am. It will take a bit of time to prep the Fleet, though."

 **Hangar Bays, With Naruto and the 497th**

Naruto and the 497th had managed to fight their way through the droid formations and the only viable vessel that they could find that would fit all of the survivors was a Hardcell transport. Still, it was a ways off and capturing it would require much fighting.

"Secure the line!" Naruto shouted, pointing towards the Hardcell transport. The men of the 497th obliged as the focused their assault on clearing the path towards the transport. Naruto spearheaded the assault as he deflected incoming blaster fire away from them. Spirit shouted words of encouragement as he fired his blaster rifle at some Droids.

"Go! Go!" Fox shouted. Firing away with his DC-15a as he ran across the vast hangar bay area. A squad of Clones followed with a long flanking maneuver to get behind a wall of Droids. Naruto hastened his assault to keep the attention of the Droids on him as Fox's squad kept pushing.

"Almost there." Naruto muttered to himself as he kept on deflecting blast after blast. The Droid's position soon collapsed and much of the incoming fire had ceased as King and his men managed to disable it.

"Secure the ship!" Naruto ordered as his men quickly surrounded the ship before a group of engineers quickly went to work. They had captured the ship, now they would have to get it to fly and that was where the bad news kicked in.

"Sir, this thing is going nowhere." One of the Clone engineers stated as Naruto raised an eyebrow. As he turned to see more Droids entering the hangar bay area, a lot of them.

"Why is that?" Naruto questioned as the engineer pointed above around the transport, causing Naruto to look up and realize the problem.

"Those magnetic locks have got the transport locked down. We need to disable them before we can do anything." He replied as Naruto nodded as he observed the battlefield.

 _"Even with all their efforts it won't be enough."_ Naruto thought with a frown. The Droids were simply too many and more were on their way. It would be a blood bath from which the 497th would not survive.

"Cover me." Naruto ordered the engineer who saw Naruto sit down and began to meditate. The engineer knew what his General was doing and nodded as he quickly kept an eye out for any would be attackers. As he was doing so, he felt his vision sharpen, as he saw everything clearly, as if everything was in slow-motion. He felt like he could take on anything and come out on top!

"Tell everyone to hold their positions around the transport. I'll take care of the locks." Naruto spoke as the engineer nodded. Naruto saw the engineer run off as he quickly squatted down before jumping up towards the upper levels. Battle Meditation had become second nature for him and he had truly become the most proficient user of it in the history of the Order. He had done so to ensure that the 497th stood a fighting chance against the tens of thousands of droids still coming their way, though he did have to leave them to disable the locks.

"Together brothers! Here they come!" Spirit shouted as he opened at the incoming Droids. His brothers followed suit as they let lose a barrage of blaster fire at the Droid army before them as more and more of them poured into the hanger bay area. The incoming blaster fire moved so slow for them that they were easily able to dodge it and their accuracy had become far greater, allowing them to engage the Droids further out.

 _"Battle Meditation."_ Were the thoughts of all Clones who had experienced this before. This was quite possibly the greatest weapon of their General. They would not let this chance Naruto provided for them to go to waste. They would hold their position, even if it meant they had to die for it.

 **Cell Block, With Ross and Siri**

"Are you guys ok?" Siri questioned Blitz and the others who nodded at her.

"We're fine, General. The field hospital was overrun, and the survivors were rounded up and captured." Blitz replied. They had set out to free the others but ended up being captured after fighting that Sith.

"Seems like the 644th is here as well." Ross stated as he began to unlock more cells down the hall. However, as he open the final cell he was brutally pushed back by an invisible Force along with plenty of theof the freed Clones.

"Dammit." Siri cursed as she saw who it was that attacked them, and it was that same Zabrak, though she was heavily burned and beyond pissed. Siri would have moved to defend the others, but she stumbled due to her injuries. Seeing that she wouldn't make it in time, she saw a Clone, the same Clone Captain of the 644th that had stayed behind to cover them try to defend the rest. He was setting his rifle to rapid fire when it was suddenly ripped from his hands.

"Oh... no you don't." The Acolyte stated between enraged as she let lose a torrent of electricity at the Clone Captain, who screamed and writhed in pain. After a good few seconds electrocution, the Acolyte threw the Captain's corpse across the hall and into one of the many rooms.

"Now then." The Acolyte turned to face Siri, who grimaced at the thought of fighting the Acolyte with her wounds still throbbing. Still, with sheer willpower and some sort of swell in the Force emboldening her, she managed to stand up once more, ready for battle. Raising her saber, she held back the Acolyte's strike, who in rage kept on attacking and attacking. Siri winced in pain with each attack further straining her broken wrist. For as long as she managed to hold out, she ultimately found herself being unable to defend herself against the Acolyte for more than a few minutes, who finally broke her defenses as Siri's grip on her saber weakened causing it to fall out of her hand. Smirking, the Acolyte once again pushed, sending Siri flying into a wall, unconscious once again.

"Time to die, Jedi." The Acolyte smirked as she slowly began to walk towards the Jedi.

"Oh, _**shut up**_ already." She heard as she turned around. Her eyes widened as she saw the Clone she had fried standing a few feet before her, his face covered in spider-like burns from the lightning. He was standing steadfast with a plasma thrower in hand. The Acolyte was quite literally shaking in fear and disbelief. She had pelted him with her strongest Force Lightning. The power she used would have killed even a Jedi!

"Y-You're just a Clone! Nothing more than a product of a test tube experiment! You should be dead!" She hurled insults at him as the scarred Captain narrowed his eyes as he lifted up the weapon he was holding, which caused the Acolyte eyes to widen even more. She wouldn't be able to deflect that with her lightsaber.

"The name's Charcoal, bitch." The newly dubbed Captain Charcoal snarled as he quite literally fired up the weapon, completely engulfing the Acolyte in flame, hearing her screams in agony as she burned alive. For good measure Charcoal pulled the trigger again. The Acolyte screams intensified as the fire burned her lungs and throat before she could scream no more and simple rolled around trying to put out the flame before coming to a halt. Now all that remained was a barely recognizable husk of burnt flesh and even that was being slowly reduced to mere ashes.

"And that was for calling me a test tube experiment." He said as he dropped the weapon and moved to assist the General.

"Are you ok, General?" He questioned Siri as she continued moaning in pain, but she was decidedly unconscious. Charcoal then moved onto Ross and his thrown brothers, waking them up one by one. "C'mon boys, I found the armory. Grab some gear and let's get moving. No time for a nap, Admiral, I need you to get up." Ross clutched his bandaged head only to find it bleeding once more from the impact. He called for a medic from the 5th company to help him change the dressing.

"I'm never setting foot off my Star Destroyer again." Ross grumbled as he massaged his calf. After a few minutes of rest, he followed the freed Clones to grab a weapon from the armor. He looked over to Siri's unconscious form. That was at least three times Siri had personally saved his life now and it was time to return the favor. Settling for a simple heavy pistol, Ross stuck it in its holster and walked over to Siri. He grunted as he lifted her onto his shoulders once more.

 **King vs Ventress**

Ventress groaned as King pressed his vibroknives - and her lightsabers - closer and closer to her chest. Their difference in size meant a difference in strength. King was nearly a full head taller than her, and he was also a male in peak physical condition. Their difference in upper body strength was something that Ventress could not ignore. But her body was empowered by the Dark side. So at the very least, she was faster than King.

Or at least, she should have been faster...

King executed his attacks at speeds that no normal human should be capable of. Unlike a lightsaber, tapping yourself with the blade of vibroweapon wouldn't harm you, and King made full use of that fact, flourishing his knives over the backs of his hands and attacking in way that Ventress could hardly predict. She tried her best to use her reach advantage, but King's reflexes made him dodge her blades almost instinctively as he closed back in.

Ventress had begun to realize her folly. Even after being explicitly warned by Count Dooku that Naruto's lieutenants were not to be underestimated, she had done so regardless. King was an utter monster of an opponent, the likes of which she had never seen in a Clone. She had begun to think that this Clone was no mere Clone. After she

"You... Why- How are you this skilled at melee combat? There's no way a run of the mill Clone could ever achieve what you have here."

"You're right. I suppose it's because I'm no run of the mill Clone." King smiled slightly after Ventress seemed to figure it out.

"So you're a Commando, then? Strange, your armor certainly doesn't look like the others I've killed." King's smile fell and he felt a twinge of anger for his fallen brothers, but he kept a stern face.

"I washed out of the program and was placed with the regular forces. I supposed 'ex-commando' is what you should call me." King explained, but Ventress didn't seem to like that.

"Tch, now you're just mocking me. There's no way you washed out with these skills." Ventress ended the pause in their little fight and went on the attack, but King parried every strike and turned her advance back on her.

"You're right, I didn't fail. I left by choice." Ventress raised an eyebrow at that as she raised her saber to defend. "When my pod brother was removed from the program I decided I didn't want to be a Commando anymore. I failed on purpose, so I could get assigned alongside Blitz. It took longer than I'd liked."

"Why's that?" Ventress asked

"Because I was the number one ranked Commando under Kal'buir. Perfect scores on every simulation. My nickname is King for a reason." King said, remembering his training fondly and only just masquerading his pride. Ventress began to understand. His natural ability, combined with outstanding marks and his sparring matches with Jedi Masters had created a rather unique being. She found it actually a bit of a shame he wasn't Force sensitive.

"That explains it. Still, you're still no match for a Sith." Ventress exploited King's reminiscing and pushed out with the Force. King was slammed into a control panel, but he quickly rolled off and recovered in time to see Ventress charging at him. She was too fast and too close, but her blade missed its mark and only skimmed the side of his face. Not willing to lose the exchange, King drew even closer and slammed his vibroknife into Ventress' left forearm. The Dathomirian screamed in pain, reeling back, and clutching her impaled arm. She removed the blade and threw it back at King with her free hand. King only caught it and wiped the blood off on his shoulder pad.

Ventress ignited both her lightsabers once again and went on the attack but found that her injury was simply too much and her left side was now vulnerable. King knocked both her sabers into the air and delivered a barrage of kicks to her torso, the last one launching her into a wall panel. She recovered just in time to dodge King's overhead strike and kicked him in his ribs. Putting away her second saber, Ventress leapt towards the prone clone and struck with one blade, but King rolled and backflipped onto his feet out of harm's way. He launched a cadence of strikes that he had learned from Siri and managed to disarm his crippled opponent.

Ventress, backed into a corner, drew her second lightsaber, and struck with all her might. King parried but the blow was too powerful, and he stumbled briefly. The opening was enough for Ventress to rush for her other blade. Grabbing it, Ventress briefly looked back at King. Knowing that she was no longer a match for him without her left arm, she took the only other option and sprinted for the door. King briefly considered following her, but decided to accept his small victory and sheathed his vibroknives.

 **Hangar Bay Top Floor**

Naruto was currently fighting his way through the top level of the hangar bay to cut the magnetic locks, which were massive. Through his Battle Meditation, he could feel down below that quite a few of his men were beginning to falter. Even with his indirect support, the difference in numbers was too great for some, and many others were barely holding on. Not only that, he could feel Siri's lifeforce slowly fading through the Force. At various moments, he could even feel a painful heat on his chest and leg, but he also felt an intense warmness at times. He had no idea what it meant, but Naruto did his best to ignore it as he marched through the wreckage of droids, but he was suddenly accosted by a flying red lightsaber and forced to drop to the ground.

Naruto followed the saber back to a group of three hooded individuals in black robes. As they pulled back their cloaks Naruto saw two humans, a middle-aged man, and a girl around his age with a bob cut. He couldn't help noticing she was extremely cute despite the red glow of her lightsaber poisoning her . Alongside them was a heavily tattooed Zabrak male in serious need of a horn trimming.

 _"Three on one, eh?"_ Naruto thought. They must've been waiting for him to be backed into using Battle Meditation, intent on exploiting his relative weakness. It was clever. Many Jedi had run into Dooku's Dark Acolytes over the course of the war, including he. They weren't that impressive. Perhaps the best of them like Ventress were on par with your average Jedi Knight, but most of them were on the level of a Padawan with limited experience. With his Battle Meditation hindering him, this matchup could prove deadly.

Naruto knew that letting them set the pace of the battle would prove costly, so he decided strike first, clashing with the girl and putting her on the defensive with a brief flurry. The Zabrak moved to defend her and pushed Naruto's momentum back at him. Naruto quickly changed his target, noting that the Zabrak's strikes were much more powerful. This all changed when the human man made his debut, equipped with a saberstaff. Naruto could tell just from their stances and strikes that the two men were far superior to the girl in combat. She was likely a newer recruit. Naruto hoped he could use that by focusing her down first.

As Naruto began his next cadence, the Zabrak took notice of their opponents focus on their newest member. He took the opportunity to press his attack on Naruto, trying to get a clean hit in, but the blond deflected every strike. Whatever their plan had been, it was now down the drain. As her senior, he took the opportunity to exert dominance, and also to stretch Naruto's focus further.

"Asha, you're no match for this man. Why don't you head below and take care of his friends. I'm sure he'd hate that very much." The girl simply shrugged her shoulders and leapt over the railing, Naruto immediately snarled at the underhanded tactic, but knew that following her meant they would follow him and trying to maintain battle meditation while being facing three Sith and shot at by thousands of droids was a recipe for one hundred percent pure death.

Naruto's thoughts were in a jumble. He felt that familiar stress come back unto his shoulders tenfold. He closed his eyes to clear his mind as he deflected yet another power attack from the Zabrak and he felt his focus fading and the Battle Meditation growing weaker. He couldn't stop meditating for even a moment, otherwise his friends - his brothers - would die, but if he couldn't maintain his focus on the battle, he would too.

Naruto reached out with the Force, calling for whatever aid it might give him, but nothing more came. In the moment, with his comrades' lives on the line, Naruto made a deal hoped he wouldn't regret as he felt a sinister energy flood his system. At first, he felt calm, at peace. But then the darkness of the energy began to overtake him. Hatred boiled within his core for the first time in over a decade as he opened his eyes, and in the place of the sky-blue marbles were red slits.

 **First Floor**

With the power of Naruto's battle meditation still flowing through them, the 497th had begun a vicious counterattack in an effort to make their way back into the halls to rendezvous with Ross and Siri. Fox and Storm led the vanguard and were destroying dozens of droids by the second. Their progress ground to a halt when a woman in black robes dropped down in front of them.

"It's a Dark Jedi." Storm noted as Fox nodded. The two quickly pointed their blasters at her and fired away. The acolyte went on the attack, dodging the incoming blaster fire as Fox and Storm quickly decided to throw away their blasters. She had gotten too close to counter with blasters. Fox jumped back, dodging her first strike, and Storm side-stepped before he delivered a backfist punch to the side of her head. Fox saw an opening and quickly kicked the acolyte, sending her to the ground. The angry acolyte quickly stood up and used Force push to throw the two back.

"Die!" She shouted in anger as she came in for a strike against Fox, who rolled out of the way before swiping her legs with his long-barreled DC-15a, causing her to fall to the ground, but she quickly launched herself off the ground and ran forward, using her legs to deliver a kick at Storm, but she found her attack blocked by something solid and metal. She looked to see that Storm had employed a common riot baton to defend himself.

Fox snarled and spat he looked around to see anything he could use as an advantage. He could have used some vibrotech weapons right about now. His eyes ventured up and he saw something that made him smirk. The acolyte saw the smirk and chuckled.

"What are you smirking for? Not afraid to die?" She questioned him as Fox chuckled once more.

"We're Clones bred for combat. Would kind of defeat the purpose if we were afraid of dying." Fox countered. The acolyte stopped laughing and narrowed her eyes. However, she was caught off guard as she felt a great amount of pain in her back. Looking behind, she saw third different Clone with his vibro-wristblade impaled into her back and no sooner did she go into a panicked rage as she realized that her lung had been punctured. How had he snuck up on him? She should have sensed him through the Force! She pulled forward, yanking the blade out in the process, and turned around with great speed. The clone severed the arm of the Clone. Fang shouted as his arm was severed.

Completely exposed, Storm seized the acolyte to try and give Fox an opening, but she thrashed about with her lightsaber, trying to get at him. Finally, something seemed to hit true and Storm felt a burning sensation in his leg; it too had been severed. Unable to balance himself, Storm fell to the ground but took the girl with him. Fox picked up Storm's baton and swung his hardest. The woman tried to lift her lightsaber up to block, but it was too late and the baton smashed into her forearm, breaking it instantly and causing the acolyte to release the lightsaber, which Fox quickly caught in mid-air as the acolyte rose to her feet, gripping her arm to try and numb the pain, but the moment she turned back around, her head was severed from its body thanks to Fox.

"T-talk about costing you an arm... and a leg." Fang joked, coughing between laughs. Storm groaned at the terrible humor and writhed for a moment, slowly crawling his way to Fang. He lifted his arm up and slugged him as hard as he could.

"You're such an asshole, Fang."

 **Second Floor**

Naruto focused hard to keep his emotions in check as the rage of Kurama flowed through him. It was an option he had no choice but to take. If he hadn't, either he or all of his men would have died. With every saber strike, the orange energy emanating from his body would twist and swirl, and the gusts of wind were intense enough to knock the two acolytes back. They both were slightly shaking at the feeling they were getting. The amount of hatred they felt from the blond Jedi was immense! It was far greater than anything they had felt, even from Dooku. However, they were broken out of their thoughts as the blond, with great speed, went back on the attack.

One of the acolytes raised his saber to defend himself. When Naruto's saber made contact with his, there was so much power behind it that the acolyte screamed in pain. Naruto continued his mad, relentless assault, eventually knocking the weapon out of the acolyte's hands with the sheer force behind his bone shattering strikes. Naruto used that moment and delivered a devastating cho mai blow, cutting off the Zabrak's arm. Naruto then kicked him through the railing, falling nearly a hundred meters to his death.

"W-What are you?" The other acolyte questioned, having completely succumbed to his fear. He couldn't even move, he didn't even defend himself, for the hatred that Naruto had surrounding him was rooting him in place. Naruto didn't answer, quickly finishing off the man with one swift strike across the chest. Naruto used his foot to roll the man off the catwalk and into the chaos below. Naruto then turned his attention back to the magnetic locks holding the ship in place.

 **In Orbit**

High above the small planetoid, the Kamino Defense Fleet jumped out of hyperspace, just outside of the anti-orbital cannons. Shaak Ti stood at the bridge of the flag ship as she observed the target before her.

"We should probably attempt to make contact with the outpost." Kal recommended as Shaak Ti nodded before Kal moved towards the rear of the bridge to the holotable.

"Shouldn't we send in gunships to rescue Naruto and the others?" Ahsoka questioned her. She was brought along to keep her out of further trouble, and it was also less trouble to just invite her. She wasn't taking no for an answer when it came to Naruto.

"If we did that then their fate will be the same as Naruto's forces. They were shot down by something" Shaak Ti responded as Ahsoka nodded. If they sent the ships now, they would come under heavy fire and would be trapped as well.

"General, I have a CC-1293 on the line." Kal called out as Shaak Ti nodded as the two Jedi's moved to the rear. A hologram of king was waiting for them and he seemed slightly out of breath.

"Everything ok, commander King?" Shaak Ti questioned as King waved his hand. She noticed that Kal's eyes slightly widened and King return the same look. The two obviously recognized each other.

 _"Nothing I couldn't handle."_ King replied as Kal smirked at that. He always knew King was far better Clone than he let on. When King had washed out of the commando program it didn't make much sense to him. King had talent, but he chose to use that talent to protect his pod brother and others.

"What about the anti-orbital cannons? We need to know if we can send in ships." Shaak Ti questioned him as King shook his head.

 _"Forget about sending ships. The General's already secured a Hardcell transport for us. I am sending you coordinates where you will carry out a full-scale bombardment."_ King said urgently as Shaak Ti raised an eyebrow.

"A full-scale bombardment? It appears to be a small Separatist base." She reasoned, but King shook his head once again.

 _"Not quite. It's a forward assembly for a planned invasion of Kamino. There's a ton of military hardware in the lower levels."_ Kal furled his eyebrows. This was not good news. An invasion of Kamino this early into the war would completely cripple the Republic's war effort.

 _"This base is far larger than previously thought and multiple Core ships have been sighted. The amount of Droids that are being brought here leads us to believe that an invasion as in the works. You need to destroy it, all of it."_ King elaborated as Shaak Ti nodded seriously.

"Very well, we'll move into position. You have ten minutes." She ordered as King nodded before the hologram faded away.

"Should I send out to the orders?" Kal questioned as Shaak Ti nodded. It was important that they halt Separatist efforts here and now.

 **Cargo Receiving Area**

Ross grunted as he carried a passed-out Siri towards the hanger bay. After all the Clones were freed, they made their way to the hangar bays, hoping that Naruto had managed to secure an escape transport.

"Cover, fire, and move." Ross muttered as he fired at a few Droids in his path before taking cover behind the containers. Peeking over, he managed to take out a few more Droids before he resumed his route towards the hanger bay.

"Damn Droids. Move slower." He cursed as he ran to the next set of containers, missing a few shots on the way. Droids, while dumb and easy to dispatch alone, were very difficult to handle in large numbers.

"Come on…" Ross said to himself as he saw the entrance to the hanger bay and the battle that was raging on in there. He gulped at that. He would have to make his way through the lightshow in the middle that could get him, and Siri killed.

 _"Best to just run for it."_ He thought as he neared the doors before he took a deep breath and made a mad dash towards the transport, while taking cover wherever he could, which wasn't much considering how open the hangar bays were.

 _"Run dammit!"_ Ross thought as he sneered and bore the pain in his lower leg as he ran as if his life depended on it, which it definitely did. When Ross scanned for an exit strategy, he saw Naruto leading part of the 497th in securing a Techno Union Hardcell-class.

"Hold the line!" Naruto shouted as he deflected the incoming fire away back to the Droids. He had managed to destroy the locks and the transport was ready to go, but they were still missing a few, mainly King, Ross, Siri, and a few others.

"Sir! I see the Admiral!" Spirit shouted, pointing towards the front as Naruto's jaw nearly dropped. What the hell was that fool doing endangering Siri's life like that!

"Suppressive fire!" Naruto shouted as he quickly charged forward, quickly meeting up with Ross as he kept deflecting fire.

"Quickly! Get on the transport!" Naruto shouted as Ross nodded, thanking him for the cover as he made his way to the transport. With Naruto covering it was far easier for Ross to make his way onto the landing ramp.

"We're all onboard, time to go General!" Fox shouted, wanting to get out of here as fast a possible. But Naruto refused

"Where's King? Don't tell me he's not coming. I'm not leaving without him." Naruto said to himself as he kept on deflecting. The transport was ready to go, and they couldn't wait any longer, but he would not leave anyone behind! They had already lost so many and he would be damned if they lost any more.

 _"Come on."_ Naruto's eyes darted across the encroaching droid forces. Then, he smirked. There was King…riding in on a commandeered STAP and blasting his way through the Droid lines, who were quite confused at the friendly fire.

"Coming through!" King shouted, knocking some of the Droids heads off with the bottom of his STAP as he neared the transport. Naruto began to close the landing ramp, and King launched himself off the STAP onto the rising platform. Naruto gripped his hand firmly, making sure his brother was okay.

"Let's go!" Naruto ordered through his transmitter. "He's on." With that order, the engines were set to full power and the ship began its long ascent into the upper atmosphere.

 **With Ventress**

Ventress snarled in anger as she scanned the hangar. Two more dead acolytes. She had seen Nudia's corpse on her way through the holding cells. Right now she was boarding a shuttle in humiliation. It seems that Oenat had survived his encounter with Naruto, but he was now missing an arm. The acolyte was muttering something, totally struck by fear and shaking like a leaf.

 _"What in the Force happened to him?"_ Ventress thought with a frown as she turned around to see a Hardcell transport make its way out of the hangar bay. Her fist tightened as she bordered her shuttle before taking off. It would seem she was just in time too as a Republic Fleet began an all-out orbital bombardment.

"Count Dooku will not be pleased…" Ventress muttered to herself. This was a failure that Dooku would not slide. They had lost nearly a million Droids, not to mention all of the ordinance and the Core ships. The invasion force as a whole would be annihilated. Their plans would be delayed severely. However, the most important thought in her mind was her fate. What kind of punishment she would face after the Acolytes returned without completing any of their objectives? He was sure that Dooku would be furious. More importantly, Sidious' rage would know no bounds after this and that made her fear for her life.

 **Onboard the** _ **Renown**_

After leaving atmosphere, the Hardcell was caught in the tractor beam of the Star Destroyer _Renown_. After the docking procedure was complete, hundreds of Clones made their way into the Medical Bay for triage. But even after all he had been through, Ross Darahan hadn't let go of Siri, much to Naruto's confusion.

"Uhh...You know you can put her down now, right Ross? They'll carry her to a bed." Naruto suggested, but Ross ignored him, looking for a place to put Siri down himself. He finally found an open bed through all the chaos and set her down. He could only wait it out for someone to assess her wounds. The two officers sat in awkward silence. It was far too long of a wait until a medical droid had come forward to address her issues, but as soon as it had, Ross stood up out of his chair and got to work firing off a list of her conditions.

"Two direct blast wounds, one to the right hamstring, another to the second rib just near the sternum. There's also a fracture in the lower radius, in the wrist area. She's also experienced moderate blood loss and will likely need a transfusion. She and I are both B positive blood types, take whatever you need from me." Naruto was staring completely dumbfounded as Ross' medical skills. Ross noticed this just as they began drawing his blood.

"When Zels first signed me up for the Navy, I decided to join the Medical Corps in an act of defiance. It wasn't until later that I finally transferred to OCS and became part of the regular forces." Naruto was still completely dumbfounded. Zels signed him up for the Navy? When? Why?

"What?" Naruto finally asked. Ross only smiled and shook his head dismissively.

"Oh, and before I forget, you should probably take a look at my leg." Naruto raised an eyebrow as Ross began rolling up his uniform, revealing a nasty wound on his lower calf.

"Well, that's what you get for running through the open Cargo Bay through that much crossfire. At least its not that serious." Naruto half-heartedly scolded Ross. He couldn't be that upset. Ross had likely saved Siri's life.

"Oh, this? No, this happened earlier. It's been bothering me for a while now." Ross explained.

"How much earlier?" Naruto asked skeptically.

"When we were caught in the trap and you told us to make a break for it into the Confederate Base." Naruto was shocked once again. Ross had been running through the entire complex, carrying Siri on his back, and fighting a Dark Acolyte no less, all with a bum leg?

And he did it all... for Siri?

 _ **Renown,**_ **Command Bridge**

As Naruto was indisposed watching over Siri, King had been the one to pick up the slack in the meantime. He made his way onto the Bridge to give the official report to Shaak Ti. After a brief moment of review she and Ahsoka left the bridge to visit Naruto and make sure that he wasn't overexerting himself as usual. Left on the bridge alone, King turned his attention back to the only other person on the bridge.

"Sergeant Kal Skirata." With a brief nod, King greeted a man he hadn't seen in nearly two years.

"Marshal Commander King." The drill sergeant nodded back. There was a brief silence, but suddenly Kal's arms had wrapped themselves around his former top cadet Commando. "It's good to see you're doing alright for yourself. Never thought you'd end up commanding an entire Legion. How's Blitz, by the way?"

"Nothing like he used to be, Kal'duir. Once he was dropped from the program his personality did a complete one eighty. He's so attached to the rules that the others often tease him for it."

"Really, the little class clown became a stuffy talking head? That personality doesn't suit him at all. How does he even cope?" Kal laughed sadly. He'd always liked Blitz's antics, and he was a capable Clone and had always been a terrific leader, he just... wasn't commando material.

"Probably the same way I did when I'd first learned he'd washed out. He just suffers through it for the sake of others." King said, briefly remembering the month he'd spent in total anguish without his pod brother by his side.

"Once you went and quit on me to join him in the regular forces... I always thought he'd be the one that would end up leading you. You were a terrible squad captain." Kal teased.

"To be honest, I usually leave all of the 497th's management to him. I'm a fighter, not a leader. The General seems to have the best of both worlds." King's comment got Kal's attention immediately.

"Ah, yes this...Uzumaki fellow, right? I've heard a bit about him. He's got a strange name... almost seems Mandalorian. He seems to be quite the impressive Jedi. Everybody's always talking about "General Uzumaki this" or "General Uzumaki that". I'd actually like to get to know a bit more about him...care to spill the beans?" Kal inquired, eager to know more

"Well, at first I only knew him as the boss' boss on Geonosis, but once I took over the 497th and met him in person he, well..." King scoffed briefly, but couldn't help but turn it into a full chuckle as he made an unprecedented connection and immediately realizing why he got along with Naruto so well.

"Well, he treats us pretty much exactly like you did..." King began to tell the story, from the beginning.

 **Holy shit that was long! Well, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed writing it. Now we see Sidious really wanting to get Naruto killed and I can tell you this that after the next chapter shit will hit the fan, really fast! I will see you all next year with this story then! Bye!**


	21. The Calm

**Hello there, my fellow readers, and writers alike! Look what I come baring this year! I know, I am a month too late, but give how most of our chapters end up being over 10k…yh. This chapter originally started out as a 7k but was quickly pushed to a 14k thanks to my beta, which by the way has done a fantastic job in this chapter with all the details. Anyways, this chapter will have more development to…set the…stage as you will. So without further ado, I present you the 21** **st** **chapter for this story!**

 **Star Destroyer** _ **Renown**_ **, Medical Bay**

One hour had passed since the jump to Hyperspace. Ross was finally getting his leg properly treated as he propped it onto a crate while sitting next to the unconscious Siri. The Medical Bay was highly overcrowded as just about everyone was in triage. There were thankfully only a handful of red indicators, mostly fresh wounded from the 497th that had been fighting in the hangar, so their chances of survival were a lot higher.

 _"Gamble and his men really did some spectacular work. I'd bet a lot these men wouldn't have made it this far without his help."_ Naruto would have to remember to put in for Gamble to receive a proper commendation. The battle had been rough, especially on the 644th who had lost quite a lot of men in the initial crash. While the 497th had survived for the most part, they had lost some valuable Captains and now there were multiple vacancies that Naruto would need to replace, something he was not happy with. He hated filling vacancies, it made him feel like a scum. Replacing his comrades with new recruits as if his friends were somehow... _replaceable_.

Naruto tightened his fist as the Kaminoans started speaking openly with Shaak Ti about authorizing a replacement order for the 644th, considering they had suffered heavy losses. Naruto had a quiet loathing for the Kaminoans, and this was a prime example of why: talking openly in front of his comrades about replacing their fallen brothers. How blatantly disrespectful. They only see them as a potential order, a product to be sold. Senator Halle Burtoni had especially earned his ire with her incessant pushing for more Clones. As if there would be any good in creating and sending more men to die in a pointless war. Suddenly, an orange hand gripped his shoulder, and Naruto felt his frustrations simmer down.

"How are you doing, Naru?" He heard Ahsoka as he turned around to find the youngling behind him. He was somewhat surprised to see her onboard a Star Destroyer, but then he remembered she was his apprentice in the practical joke and leaving her on Kamino was just not an option.

"I'm fine, just working on some stuff." Naruto responded as Ahsoka hummed at that.

"No, I mean...a lot of Clones died, didn't they?" Ahsoka fought back the tears welling up in her eyes. She had trained the 644th too.

"They did." Naruto reached up and grabbed Ahsoka's hand on his shoulder.

"And how are you feeling about...that?" Ahsoka refocused her question. So that was what she meant. She was worried about him grieving.

"I'll be okay. It used to really bother me, but now it's not such a big deal." Naruto expertly masked his discontent with the process of replacing the men that had bravely fought alongside him. Whether it be for months or less than half a day, it definitely still got to him. Although there was some truth to his statement - it had become a bit easier - as much as he hated to admit it.

"So what stuff are you working on?" She questioned, wiping away the last of the sadness from her eyes. Naruto sighed. She wanted to move them away from the previous topic, but this question brought them right back to it.

"Boring paperwork stuff. Commendations and reorganization of the 644th. They suffered some losses, and now I'm wondering on what to do with their reduced manpower." Naruto stated. He couldn't take a legion at half strength to battle, and the 644th was nowhere ready for another battle.

"I think the solution is quite simple, Uzumaki." Ross chimed in from his chair, having been eavesdropping. "They'll have to be folded into the 497th. The Chancellor's original plan for reorganizing the 10th Army will unfortunately have to be put on indefinite hold." Naruto stared back, seemingly in thought, but he had just realized this was the first time he had seen Ross without his eyepatch on, at least, in person.

That sounded like a good idea. Looking down at his datapad, he went through the list rapidly as he nodded to himself. There would have to be some finagling when it came to the rank of some troops, but he figured that merging the 644th into 497th would be the best choice. The two legions had just fought together, and though a baptism of fire the 644th had proved itself despite its casualties and inexperience.

"Do you think the Chancellor will go for it?" Naruto asked. This whole thing was Palpatine's idea after all and he was the Commander-in-chief. Naruto was sure he could assign some of the troops without a commander into his personal guard, which was what the Chancellor had planned for anyways. Naruto didn't need an entire Legion looking after him anyways, a few personal guards would be more than enough.

"He'll have to. Your leave is up in a few days and that's not enough time to drill another half a Legion in our particular battle formations and considering the new developments in the war in your absence, I don't think the rest of High Command will allow you to stay past your leave. They'll want you on the frontlines."

"What happened?" Naruto inquired. He'd already been away from things for too long.

"Aside from the push to Raxus being completely stalled, General Grievous and the Confederacy launched a surprise attack from his base on Yag'Dhul. The Techno Union has finally shown their new frigate and it has proven quite formidable. His forces went all the way up the Rimma route and captured Abregado-rae. They also took Giju and Fondor along the way and I'm sure the Republic will want those systems back as soon as possible. That's probably where we, and I'm sure several other battlegroups, will be headed towards next - against Grievous in the South." Ross had taken a liking to predicting their deployments over the course of the war, and he was usually right nine out of ten times.

 _"Fondor..."_ the name echoed throughout Naruto's mind. It seemed like ages since the battle there. Ross was different back then. Hell, he was different back then, even if he didn't always show it. Naruto looked up only to notice the chaos of several Clones being shuttled out of the medbay.

 _"Guess we've arrived at Kamino."_ Naruto thought as he followed his men to the hangar area. He didn't notice it at first, but only the grunt infantry had been loaded on to transports to be treated by the medics on Kamino. Naruto's heart rate elevated, and his stress level began to rise again. He was wondering why Siri wasn't being taken down or why the maimed Captains of the 497th were left aboard. His concern came screeching to a halt when Ross put a hand on his shoulder and pointed another direction with his cane.

"This way, Uzumaki." Ross guided him to a Consular-class cruiser docked in the Venator's main hangar. Not long after they arrived Siri and a handful of others were being loaded onto the ship with medics in tow.

"They're not being treated on Kamino. I've got some pull and we're taking them for high quality treatment. It's a private, for-profit facility on Coruscant and their usual clientele are Senators and Corporate kingpins. They'll be treated like royals once they get there." Naruto was about to raise his voice in protest. Was Ross insane or just foolish? He was a Jedi and even with everything he had saved up it wasn't nearly enough to afford a private hospital intended for CorpSec CEOs.

"Don't worry about it , Uzumaki." Ross reassured, noticing Uzumaki's confusion. "I'm paying for everything. Drop in the bucket, I assure you." Naruto raised an eyebrow as he counted the heads left in the room. There were at least a dozen Captains, as well as Siri, in the room. Private hospitals, especially high-class ones, usually charged several thousand just for the room. The medical care necessary for some of them, especially Fang and Storm - who had lost limbs - would surely put this bill into the hundreds of thousands of credits. But Ross was here saying he would cover everything as if it wasn't an exorbitant amount of money. A 'drop in the bucket' as he claimed. Then, Naruto pieced together something he never thought he would have to think about.

Ross was _**definitely**_ rich.

Considering that Admirals in the Republic Navy before the outbreak of the war were a scarcity, they were _**very**_ well paid for dedicated service. Ross had been promoted through the ranks quickly and had been a highly decorated flag officer for the past eight years. He'd never been married or had kids, and ever since the war started he basically spent his every waking moment on a ship eating government rations, so he wasn't spending anything on food or entertainment. He was probably subletting his apartment for the duration of the war too, so he wasn't spending anything on housing either.

Ross had also taken charge of the 10th Army's budget and had done a spectacular job so far. It was likely that every single one of his paychecks was similarly balanced to the last detail. Naruto had seen his place on Coruscant where they were first introduced, it was luxurious but not over the top, so he definitely wasn't wasting his money on extravagant things. Naruto also remembered Ross talking about investing in some businesses with his disposable income. Apparently the investments had paid off well if he was casually offering something that could cost upwards of a half a million credits.

What was he doing, there wasn't time to be mulling over the intricacies of Ross' wealth. He had to get to Coruscant quickly. In the last minute, however, Naruto decided to confirm something with Ross first.

"Ross, do you think it was a complete coincidence that enemy was ready for us?" Naruto questioned. Ross shook his head before answering.

"Not only was the enemy ready, there was a massive army in the making. Our intelligence wasn't the least bit accurate, not by a long shot. That was definitely a trap set specifically for us." So Ross had come to the same conclusion he had.

"To me, it seems that either high command has been infiltrated or the Intelligence wing of the military has a Confederate spy. At the very least, I'll be making a very strongly worded formal complaint for their ineptitude that bordered on negligence." Naruto stated as Ross nodded at the theory, a smile on his face.

"And you're avoiding talking to the Chancellor via a transmission is because the holocommunications might be compromised?" Ross questioned, causing Naruto to nod.

"Right. I don't want to tip off the spy that he or she might have been caught." Signaling the end of the conversation with a wave goodbye, Ross began using his simple cane to waddle to the transport area. Naruto was confused as to why he wasn't staying.

"Where are you going? Aren't you coming with us to this fancy hospital of yours?" Naruto asked.

"It's just a grazing leg wound. I don't need that kind of treatment. I'll take care of all the administrative work in merging the Legions, Uzumaki. You'll, of course, have the final say on assignment. But for now, just make sure Tachi stays safe on the way there. I'll meet you on Coruscant in a couple weeks." Ross said as the doors shut.

"So, have you talked to Siri yet?" Ahsoka questioned as Naruto shook his head. He'd almost forgotten Ahsoka had followed him the whole way here.

"Not yet. She hasn't awaken yet." Naruto responded. He hadn't had the time to head out to Coruscant. He sighed as he put his data pad down as he turned to Ahsoka and gave her a smile.

"So, I supposed you're going to want to come back to Coruscant with me?" Naruto responded with a smile as Ahsoka paused before she giggled mischievously.

"If that's your order, Master Naru." She replied with a coy and obviously sarcastic bow, causing Naruto to shake his head with a scoff. Even when she was actually respecting him as a Jedi Master she still really wasn't. Any excuse to get off this terrible planet, I suppose.

"Right…." Naruto said as the Star Destroyer jumped to hyperspace with Ahsoka in tow. He wanted to meet with the Chancellor personally to discuss about the most recent debacle. Approaching quietly, he sighed as he looked at the still form of Siri. She had still yet to awaken after the battle, but it seemed like she would be ok. Walking up to the bed, he grabbed a seat next to it and sat down.

"I shouldn't have divided up our forces…" He spoke, feeling guilty of letting Siri getting injured so badly. It was his call that ended up getting Siri injured and so many Clones getting killed. He should have simply kept them all together. Then he would have been able to defend them all. Grasping Siri's hand, he held it tightly.

"I promise. Next time, I will defend you, even at the cost of my life. That's my promise for this lifetime." He promised her, vowing to make sure that something like this never happened again. He hated seeing her like this. It filled him with anger, not towards anyone, but towards himself. Sighing to himself, he got up.

"I hope you wake up soon. It gets boring without you around. I have to talk to the Chancellor soon, so hang tight, ok?" Naruto spoke as he smiled sadly before he turned to leave, missing the twitch Siri's unconscious hand produced.

 **Coruscant, Industrial Sector**

Darth Sidious was not happy, scratch that, he was furious. That blond Jedi had once again survived. He had tried getting him killed by sending him into impossible battles, yet he came out alive every time. He attempted to make him a Galactic pariah by sending him to attack defenseless worlds with mostly civilians, but Uzumaki's budding political acumen had maneuvered him out of that. He'd tried keeping him out of the major battles like Bestine and Rhen Var, but Uzumaki found loopholes and his plans were again unsuccessful. And now, the trap he had so carefully planned specifically for him, had failed too. Uzumaki had infuriated him to no end. If Palpatine hated one thing, it was things not going his way. He had managed to fool the Jedi, gained unprecedented power in the Republic, killed his old Master, and yet he couldn't deal with a single Jedi who was well on his way to derailing his plans. He needed an outlet for his anger.

 _"Dooku's assassin will answer for this failure."_ He thought darkly. Dooku had failed him in the past and he had failed him again, his assassin more so. It was time to have a chat with his appetence. Pressing a button on his desk, the room darkened as he donned his black robes . These transmissions were highly secure, but it didn't hurt to always have a contingency to hide his identity.

 **Yag'Dhul**

"M-Master, please! You don't understand!" Ventress pleaded as Dooku frowned, unleashing another dosage of Force Lighting, electrocuting the assassin once more. This was her punishment and motivation. Punishment for failing her mission and motivation for her to complete the next mission to avoid more Force Lighting.

"I understand that you failed in your task, despite given an army large enough to conquer almost any world in the galaxy. And... you got plenty of my acolytes killed." Dooku responded as he kept using his Force Lighting. On the side, Grievous watched Dooku reprimand Ventress with a bit of curiosity. Dooku had already electrocuted the Zabrak, Oenat, to death for his failure.

It was no secret that Grievous was not a big fan of Ventress, in-fact, he believed that had he been sent to kill this Uzumaki he would have succeeded, but Dooku was being quite contradictory in his actions. These had to be the actions of a fearful man. If Sidious was furious, then Dooku was in trouble himself. His acolytes' failures were his failures and his Master wasn't going to take his failure lightly. He noticed the holodisk beeping, but also noticed that Dooku was too busy 'teaching' the assassin an important lesson. Walking over to it, he pressed a button, accepting the incoming transmission and before him stood a hologram of Sidious himself.

"My lord." Grievous greeted with a slight bow, causing Dooku to pause his torture and to look at the Hologram with slight fear.

 _"Lord Tyranus, why is it that I find Naruto Uzumaki still alive?"_ Sidious inquired as Dooku gulped. He quickly took a knee and lowered his head.

"Forgive me my Master, but the operation failed." Dooku answered, which was not a solid answer, it was just an answer. Sidious scowled as his turned to look at the assassin, who was recovering from her punishment.

"Evidently..." the word was long and drawn out, and Sidious clicked his tongue with every syllable.

"M-My lord Sidious... The target p-proved to be more resourceful than anticipated. A Clone named King managed to hold me off before…defeating me. He provided far superior to your average Clone. He was a top ex-Commando. I don't mean to question you, but I doubt even you were aware a Clone could be so strong." Ventress desperately addressed her failings. Her pride as a Sith had taken a massive hit after being beaten by a mere Clone. How was she expected to face off against a Jedi Master if a mere Clone could defeat her? Sidious did not look placated and now she was questioning his knowledge? He thought that she might have been beaten by Uzumaki himself, which would have been more a forgiving excuse, but a Clone? Unacceptable.

 __ _"That boy's forces are proving to be much greater of a threat than anticipated, but this failure will not go unpunished."_ Sidious was about to tell Dooku to do away with Ventress, but Dooku spoke up.

"Master, this Clone that goes by the name 'King' is far more powerful than any other. He had matched me when he first fought, even if it was right after I had faced a much more capable combatant earlier. That Clone is not to be trifled with. And Uzumaki is a Master Jedi. Even if Ventress managed to get through this former Commando and face off against Uzumaki, she would have undoubtedly lost, and she was wise in fleeing. Her failure will not be excused, but I ask that you be understanding and have some faith that she will not fail so greatly next time." Dooku stated, causing Ventress eyes to slightly widen. He knew that she would have lost? Just how powerful was this Jedi? Looking towards Sidious, he looked absolutely livid at Tyranus words before he turned to Grievous and cut the transmission, leaving Dooku more fearful than before.

It was clearly that Sidious was not pleased. Grievous in the meantime was grinning... could he even grin now. Either way, his eyes showed his delight. Grievous' thought raced in his mind. Dooku and Ventress had failed, and it was unlikely that either of them would be a match for Naruto a second time. Naruto be on high alert against Dooku and wouldn't fall for the same trick twice, and Ventress was a weakling... barely a match for some hotshot Clone.

"Ventress..." Dooku began. "You will not be going on any missions for the next few months. It's time to further your training so that you do not fail me again." Ventress bowed at Dooku's gracious mercy, knowing that she would never receive this opportunity again.

Grievous felt a twinge of jealousy at this but did not lament. He had killed dozens of Knights, and even Jedi Masters. Yes...he was still leagues above someone like Ventress.

 **Chancellor's Office, Coruscant, Five Days Later**

There could be no denying it now. Sidious had to consider that Uzumaki was a far greater threat than any Jedi, right up there with Yoda and Windu. If left unchecked the boy would only grow more in power and status, perhaps even enough to rival his own and he could not have that. He could not allow an upstart Jedi to ruin his plans any further. Plans that had been in the workings for a very long time, one of which was a prolonged war that would tire the galaxy.

 _"Uzumaki's victories are bringing the war closer and closer to an early end. I must finish him before the war is unlosable for the Republic, otherwise..."_ Sidious thought as he balled his fists but took a deep breath to relax. He couldn't allow himself to showcase his anger. As much as he wished to kill two birds with one stone with a simple application of Order 66, there would be no way that anyone would believe the story that King would kill his closest friend - nay brother, without reason. Sidious contemplated his options for a few moments before coming to a realization. His efforts at subversion had failed, it was time he took a more direct approach to deal the young Jedi Master.

 _"Supreme Chancellor, Jedi Master Naruto Uzumaki is here to speak to you."_ He was informed through the intercom as he blinked. Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Palpatine had not expected Naruto to come to him. He gathered his thoughts and pressed a hidden button on his desk, opening a secret compartment and revealing an electrum-plated silver cylinder inside. He was not about to take any chances. It was possible Uzumaki had figured out who he was and had come here to assassinate him. Palpatine slid his lightsaber into the sleeve of his robe and pressed a button another, much less menacing button on his desk.

"Let him through." Palpatine stated as he calmed himself and took a seat. It was time to act like the kind and reasonable, if somewhat firm and stubborn Chancellor he made himself out to be. The doors slid open and in walked Naruto Uzumaki, the Jedi Master causing him much trouble.

"Ah, General Uzumaki. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Palpatine questioned, a smile on his face as Naruto took a seat before him. Palpatine kept smiling, but he hated that Naruto had taken a seat without being offered first. How utterly disrespectful.

"Chancellor, I'm afraid I'm going to have to dispense with pleasantries and cut to the chase. I am sure you are aware of what happened during my last assignment?" Naruto questioned as Palpatine nodded. How could he forget? He had arranged that suicide mission himself!

"Yes, quite the battle it was from what I have heard. However did you managed to escape?" Palpatine stated with a somber tone.

"I lost many good men…" Naruto responded, lamenting all those who died during the battle. Shaking his head, he pulled out a datapad, an official report of the battle. Palpatine accepted the data pad to find out where his plan went wrong.

"You could have sent this data through normal communications. I'm not sure why you came all the way over here just to give me this." Palpatine reasoned. What purpose did the Jedi have?

"I have another reason for coming, Chancellor. The Separatist forces were completely ready for my attack, leading me to believe that it was a trap." Naruto stated.

"I see, and I'm sorry for this turn of events, but these things do happen in war sometimes. It would've happened regardless who I sent. It's for that fact that I'm somewhat grateful I sent you. I'm sure you were able to minimize casualties." Palpatine tried to deflect the question, but Naruto didn't flinch with his next words.

"This trap was obviously set specifically for me. I'm not sure, but I have reason to believe that either high command or the intelligence branch have been infiltrated by Confederate spies and sympathizers. If there isn't a spy, then high commands lapse in judgment should be investigated. If they knew the enemy's strength, then they shouldn't have sent me unprepared." This caused Palpatine to stiffen, but he quickly composed himself. Had he really been discovered? No, he made sure to cover his tracks.

"I see... who do you think it was that set up this trap?" Palpatine questioned, acting as if he was surprised by it.

"I assure you that I will be investigate everything discussed today to figure that out." Naruto, thanking the Chancellor for hearing him out before stood up to make his way out of the office, but Palpatine stopped him.

"Please wait, Master Jedi. I'm sorry, but I can't spare you for this investigation of yours. As I'm sure you've heard, General Grievous is cause trouble in the Southern Inner Rim. He's dangerously close to Corellia and Senator Iblis is concerned that, even with his special proclamation of neutrality, that the Confederacy will attack. I've heard you're somewhat close with the Senator and I'm sure you know how bullish the man can be." This was Sidious' last-ditch effort to forestall Naruto's investigation, something that would assuredly oust him as a Sith given enough some.

"Then I trust you'll be appointing someone to investigate the matter?" Palpatine couldn't hide his twisted smirk, but he worked it into a bright smile.

"Absolutely, my boy. I'll see to it personally." This put Naruto at ease and he suddenly remembered his manners.

"Then I'm satisfied. I'll begin organizing the 10th Army to launch a counteroffensive against Grievous. If I may be excused, your excellency." Naruto was eager to get back on the battlefield.

"Yes, of course Naruto. Good luck." Palpatine smiled as Naruto left his office with a bow.

 **"That man is not to be trusted."** Naruto sighed as he heard Kurama's voice. He didn't know why, but Kurama didn't like Palpatine one bit.

 _"Be quiet, you annoying fox."_ Naruto shot back. It's wasn't that he didn't totally distrust Kurama, it was when Naruto questioned about Palpatine from Kurama all the fox would say is something felt off about him. Needless to say that was not a good enough answer for Naruto. Perhaps the Chancellor's polite and friendly demeanor pissed the fox off a little too much. They were fighting a galactic war and there were far more pressing matters to attend to than an evil, violent voice in his head saying he smelled something fishy.

 **"I'm not just a voice in your head, you damn brat!"** Kurama shouted back, but Naruto shook his head as he exited the Chancellor's chambers. After a long walk through the Senate building later, and he noticed that Ahsoka was still patiently waiting for him by the docks of the Senate building. He was somewhat relieved that he didn't have to comb the building for another twenty minutes just to find out what trouble she had gotten into.

"Naruto?" Naruto stopped as he heard his name by an all too familiar voice. He closed his eyes as he turned around, hoping that it wasn't who he thought it was. But alas, when he opened them, he found the only person who managed to hurt him ever truly just a short two and a half years ago.

"Senator Amidala." Naruto replied quickly and coldly to which Padme slightly flinched, but she supposed that she had it coming after how she ended things.

"I heard about the battle at Leritor Minor…are you okay?" She questioned in an attempt to open up a dialogue with him. It had been quite some time since they talked one-on-one, somewhat because of the war and mostly because Naruto had been avoiding her.

"I'm fine, and my troops will manage. You don't have to worry about me." He stated causing Padma to shake her head.

"But I am worried. You're still a dear friend of mine regardless of our recent history." She tried reaching out, but after hearing that Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Like how Anakin is your 'dear friend'? Although I get the feeling he's become more in 'recent history'." He finally asked the question he had wanted to ask for a very long time.

"What do you mean? Anakin was my bodyguard during the assassination attempts before the war started, but...he's just an old friend." Padme seemed to be asking him to elaborate but that was the one thing she didn't want him to do. Did he know? If so, how? She and Anakin had been very careful about their relationship. Naruto held up his hand to stop her from making a further fool out of herself. Even at their best, he always disliked her dismissive nature, especially when she had been caught in a lie.

"Back on Geonosis, I saw the two of you riding that Reek, out in the middle of the arena. I'm actually surprised others didn't see you." Naruto stated the obvious. He had always known ever since that day. He didn't blame Anakin for the two of them drifting apart or even for falling in love with Padme - Force knows he did too - but he definitely had a chip on his shoulder after Padme used his affiliation against them being together and then completely ignored her own logic for someone else.

"I…" She tried to form words but find herself speechless. What could she say in a situation like this? That she had broken his heart just to fall in love with another Jedi a couple years later? That she was sorry? She knew she was in the wrong after using that excuse. She ended their relationship because of the growing feelings she had for Anakin.

"Look, Padme. You don't need to say anything because there really is nothing more you can say. You told me that you couldn't be with me because you didn't want to jeopardize my place in the Order, because I had just become a Jedi Knight. If you had asked me to leave the Order to be with you, I...I probably would have done it. Without any regrets." Naruto finally let out what had been building up these past few years. He felt a tremendous emotional weight fly from his shoulders.

"I couldn't ask you to do that, you've always wanted to rise to the rank of Grand Master. It's been your dream since I first met you." Padme tried to explain her reasoning, but Naruto stopped her.

"But you could have tried. Instead you chose to destroy what we had and for what? Another Jedi? I don't know if you realize it but using the Order to dismiss me and then running right into the arms of Skywalker was...I think the phrase I would use is complete and utter hypocrisy. What's even happened with the two of you since there? Wait, don't tell me, I actually don't want to know." Naruto's frustrations had almost gotten the better of him, and he sighed as he turned away. He still... felt something, despite what she did to him. He could - would, eventually - forgive her, but he could never look at her the same.

"We're married…" She answered his question anyways, albeit after a long pause. Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The girl he had loved was now married. It was as if the knife that was stabbed in his heart all those years ago was being removed. Taken out slowly and painfully, but at least it would finally start to heal.

"I…I see…" was all that Naruto could say as he began to walk away. "Then I wish you the best of luck. Don't worry, this secret is safe with me." Was all he said before he left the hallway, leaving Padme to her own thoughts. Not only had she left him, but she had also married another Jedi - Skywalker, no less - in secret.

 **"I still don't understand why you associate her after what she has done."** Kurama commented, but Naruto didn't say anything back, he just kept walking. Kurama sighed and went back to his slumber.

 _ **"I supposed it's because he's been through worse since."**_ Kurama thought as he yawned in his cramped cage. Naruto had been through many battles, some of them nearly life ending and still managed to come out on top. He had…faith…in the blond despite being at odds with him most of the time.

 **Mac-Donno Private Hospital, Two Weeks Later**

"Check out this new arm! Never thought the Admiral of all people would buy me something like this!" Fang commented as he flexed his new cybernetic arm and spun it in ways that would be impossible for a flesh one. Normally a maiming like this would have put an end to any Clones career as a soldier, but not Fang. Ross had parted with some serious credits to give him a top of the line prosthetic.

"Will you shut up about it already? I'm still trying to get used to this new leg." Storm replied as he kept waddling slowly along the floor, he was still a bit angry at the fact that he had lost his leg to some idiot girl wielding a red space sword. This new leg was heavier than his old one and was much more difficult to move around. He missed his old biological leg, not that he wasn't thankful for his new one. All that added weight was perfect for giving Fang's ass its much needed kicking every now and then.

"Am I interrupting something?" a familiar voice drew their attention to the doorway.

"General!" Storm snapped to attention, but Naruto only gestured for him to settle down.

"New arm, new leg?" Naruto questioned the two. He had put in a request for the two to get cybernetics, but this soon? Not the mention that those did not look like standard cybernetics.

"Well, the Admiral paid a hefty price for them and let me tell you, these bad boys are way better than standard issue ones!" Fang answered, eager to explain the inner workings of his cybernetics arm. Naruto hummed he walked into the room.

"I don't know much about the Admiral, but I know that he's gotta be loaded if he can afford such cybernetics on the fly! This baby has a built-in device for hacking into computer systems and is capable of electronic lock-picking! It's like I'm part astromech. This is so awesome!" Fang stated in excitement like he was a child in a candy store. Naruto chuckled at Fangs behavior. For someone who lost a limb, he was really happy.

"What about your leg Storm?" Naruto questioned as the leg seemed to be made out of very high-quality material.

"Well, I'm not quite sure if it does anything aside from let me, but It is pretty sturdy. Heavy too. I'm still getting used to walking with it, but I'll let you know if that changes." Storm answered. He hadn't looked into the capabilities of his leg like Fang did, mostly because all Storm cared about was destroying more Droids than anything else. Ross didn't get the time to tell him what his leg was capable of and neither did the medical Droid. He would have to ask Ross later or figure it out himself.

"I see. Well, are least you two got your limbs back…in a sense." Naruto commented with a slight chuckle as he made his way towards the entrance. "I have someone here who's eager to see you two..." Naruto left for a different room as King entered with a smile to check on two of his best men. He had a few things to discuss regarding changes to the 497th.

 **Siri's Room, A Few Minutes Earlier**

Siri had woken up just a few days after the battle thanks to the advanced bacta facilities the hospital had access to, and her recovery was going swimmingly. For the past few days she could stand up and walk around without any pain, but the medical droids insisted that she not do so too much as her leg and heart were still recovering from the internal injuries the blast wounds inflicted. Too much physical exertion could cause her more trouble.

Rather than lay in her bed, Siri had opted to lounge around the room, taking a seat in a reclining chair that she found to actually be far more comfortable than the bed to sleep in. She was eating flan out of a cup broadly, as nothing interesting ever happens in a hospital. Fang and Storm had recently come by to check on her, but they were mostly learning how to use their new prosthetics now. Ahsoka had come to check on her once with Master Adi, but with the war time constraints were at an all-time high, and Siri was beginning to feel a little lonely.

That quickly changed when she senses a familiar presence just a few moments before it walked through the door. It was Ross, fresh back from the campaign to retake the Fondor shipyards. She was somewhat thankful that he had a new eyepatch on, as she had just been eating. While it wasn't as bad as he made it out to be, it wasn't something she particularly enjoyed seeing. From what she heard, the Confederate Eleventh Fleet was waiting for him to come, and although he managed to get a few good hits in, he ultimately had to make his first retreat. General Tann had proven to be a capable adversary, and there were rumors that she was one of Dooku's acolytes, a dark side user like the Twi'lek and Zabrak women that she had fought on Leritor.

"You're up and about, that's good." Ross' greeted warmly. Siri felt off-put by the complete shift in Ross' personality. She had been noticing some small changes, but ever since they crashed on Leritor, he had almost done a complete one eighty from the attitude he had when they first met.

"Ross, what are you doing here?" Siri asked. Sure, she had sensed him coming in, but she didn't have a clear idea on why he was here.

"I had planned on coming by a week ago, but High Command rerouted me to the battle at Fondor. It didn't go so well."

"No, I meant why are you here at the hospital." Siri rephrased her question, trying to get a more concrete answer out of him.

"Is that any way to treat the man who paid for your treatment?" Ross deflected the question. He was still unsure if he wanted to follow through with the purpose of his visit, so he tried. "Not to mention this room costs three grand a day and food and caretaking expenses are another thousand and change. How in the hell do you eat so much and keep your figure?" Siri remembered that in her teens before she had ever met Naruto she was pretty thin, having grown out of her somewhat pudgy-faced youth.

Then, the blond passed along his eating habits and she gained over twenty pounds. She worked most of it off over the years with an increase in exercise - dueling with Naruto helped a lot with that - and rationing during the war had also caused her to slim down a bit more. But she was inactive, and her diet had not changed. She'd probably gained everything she lost over the past six months back in just this past week.

"So... why exactly did you? Pay for this room." Hearing that Ross had paid for everything - well, she originally thought that Naruto or the Order had covered the cost, but -this revelation was unexpected to say the least. Ross looked a little embarrassed at first, and then she started to feel the cracks in Ross' mental armor through the Force, and she suddenly felt what he was feeling.

"I guess there's no way to get around it, then." Ross began to speak, but he was stopped by Siri.

"No, Ross. We can't. For... so many reasons." She had felt the Admiral's passion and desires creep through, and although he may have changed for the better... No. She was a Jedi and being in a romantic relationship was against the code. Not that she was the strictest adherent to it, anyways.

"I understand your misgivings, I'm sure I haven't made the best impression on you in these past six months, but I've always found your unrelenting determination alluring. You never once backed down against me. In fact, one of my first memories is of you slapping me right in my face, and speaking of faces, we'll I suppose I'll just say that I've always liked the look of yours." Ross understood completely, but that didn't mean he was ready to give up just yet. He was about to go on, but Siri again interrupted.

"But... you did save my life. Carrying me around on your back when your leg had a blast wound for nearly an hour, I'm kind of impressed. So, let it not be said that I'm ungrateful." Siri rose from her chair and wrapped her arms around Ross' waist. He was surprised for a moment, but he eventually did the same. "So, thank you, Ross Darahan. I really thought I was going to die there for a moment. And I definitely am in your debt."

Ross felt a little uncomfortable with her resting her head on his shoulder so close to his eyepatch, but he simply accepted it for as long as he could. At least, he did until the door slid open and a certain blond came in to ruin everything. Ross cursed his superior's alien name.

 _'Dammit, Uzumaki.'_

Siri turned her attention to the door and immediately brightened up after seeing Naruto and rushed over to hug him on her still wounded leg.

"Good to see you awake, sis. I see they've begun nerve regeneration therapy if you're feeling that much discomfort just by walking." Naruto reached under her armor and supported her weight to keep her off her foot.

"Uzumaki, what brings you here?" Ross asked. He hadn't expected Naruto to return from Giju for some time.

"Visiting me, obviously." Siri said with a hint of faux arrogance.

"And I can see I'm obviously not alone in that." Naruto looked over to Ross, somewhat confused by the situation he walked in on. Ross and Siri hugging? Not something he expected in a million years. Ross looked a bit annoyed by his arrival, and Siri had a pretty embarrassed look on her face when she saw him walk in. Naruto wasn't too smart, but he wasn't a total idiot. He knew how to read a room and when his presence wasn't fully welcome.

"Well, I suppose I should just get to the point. Siri, the Council has asked me to lead the upcoming group of initiates to Ilum and it's a rather large group for...political reasons. I want you to come with me to help tutor them in building their lightsabers." Siri could tell he was upset that the Council was rushing some initiates that otherwise might not be considered ready into becoming Padawans.

"You know I'd like to, but there's no way the stiffs in here would let me leave on this foot." Siri looked disappointed. Any other time and she would've come along.

"Well, the mission isn't for a few days and you'll probably be sitting for most of it anyways. You know Ahsoka would love to see you there when she picks out her crystal." Well damn, Siri did have a similar soft spot for Ahsoka.

"Fine, I'll talk to the medical droids about speeding up the nerve regeneration treatments and getting her a temporary release." Ross spoke from the corner. He had a considerable amount of pull at the hospital. One of the chief investors, Estron Donno, was a man he'd rescued from a group a pirate a while back. He owed him for life. "But you'd better take good care of her." Ross warned lightheartedly.

"Awesome. Thanks Ross, and you know I will. Sorry to keep make this visit so short but I've got to report to the Council on what went down on Giju." Naruto said with a wave goodbye and he began to head towards the door, but he stopped short when a menacing grin spread over his face. He turned back to his adoptive sister and said. "By the way, Siri, you know you're in a _**hospital gown**_ , right? Your ass is on full display for the world to see. I'm sure Ross in particular is enjoying the view." Naruto got in the last prank and Siri became a thousand shades of red darker, while the color subsequently drained from Ross' face.

 _'Sometimes you're the devil himself, Naruto Uzumaki...'_

Siri immediately tried wrapping her gown tighter, only to find that her recently gained weight made it one size too small and impossible to fully close. Embarrassed, she ran at Naruto with her pillow and threw it at him as hard as she could, but he ducked out the doorway and closed it behind him, only hearing the muffled sound of Siri's allegations of perversion. She then realized that Ross could still see her behind... well, from behind. She pivoted on her good foot and sat onto her bed as quickly as possible. She resisted the urge to slap Ross for not warning her earlier, but she remembered that he had seen her bare chest while he was treating her wounds back on Leritor, so she didn't care too much.

The next minute or two was a time of complete silence. Siri was too embarrassed to speak and Ross too afraid of inciting her wrath, but he eventually mustered the courage to speak.

"So...you and Uzumaki, then?" Ross had always postulated that Siri was interested in a romance with Naruto, and seeing how she just reacted to his arrival, he figured it was true.

"What? No, we're just adoptive siblings. I'm sure we've mentioned that in front of you several times. Why would you think I'd ever date that colossal _**idiot**_?" Siri rejected his suggestion with venom at the mere mention of Naruto. God did he know how to get under her skin sometimes.

"Because it's quite strange the way you two are around one another sometimes. You certainly argue like siblings, but also like an old married couple. And I've seen the way you two _**'pretend'**_ to flirt with one another. Siblings, even foster or step siblings, simply do not act that way with one another. At least, not normally." Ross addressed the elephant, and Siri realized that she was caught in his net.

"Those are just pranks we play on one another. They started when he was a teen and starting to mature. Jedi's aren't celibate. We do have casual encounters to help relieve stress and clear the mind. He was at the age that women were starting to enter his mind and I would tease him about it. A lot of people thought we would eventually run off and leave the Order back in those days. Eventually he got over the embarrassment and started doing it back to me." Ross simply stared with a look of disbelief. If they didn't have feelings for one another then they wouldn't do something like that. Siri stared back for a moment but caved quickly. "I mean, I won't say that I haven't thought ever about it, and I'm sure he has too, at some point, but..."

"... _ **but?**_ " Ross pressed, trying to rush her to the point.

"I don't think either of us wants something like that. Our feelings aren't romantic. There might be some... attraction, but a relationship?" Siri was trying to explain. She definitely had something deeper with Naruto than a friendship or an adoptive sibling, but they had simply never made anything of it. The gap in age, while not too awkward now that they were both adults, was something she felt wouldn't go over too well. After all, he was fifteen and she was almost in her mid-twenties.

"I don't think that could've ever happened, and especially not now. It would only complicate things and not to mention endanger both of our careers. Naruto's dream is to become Grand Master one day, too, and I don't want to become any sort of an obstacle to that." Siri felt that something could have happened at some point, but she was eight years Naruto's senior and that window was too brief. She had recently turned 34 and Naruto would be 26 in just over a week.

"Well, I have to say I think it was for the best. I don't think I could have ever pried you away from Uzumaki." Siri laughed at Ross' joke. He was witty and charming when he wanted to be, she'd give him that.

"But that still doesn't matter. Naruto and I never happened because of bad timing. We were divided by time and when we finally weren't we were divided by space. So I'd have to mention that you're asking me out in the midst of a massive galactic war. That's the epitome of bad timing, Ross."

"And what about... later. You and I are almost the same age, unlike Uzumaki."

"Yes, I suppose that time isn't a factor for us, but timing is. This war is just too much for me right now. I couldn't handle leaving the order or hiding a relationship from the Council in the midst of all this." Siri reaffirmed the current impossibility of their relationship.

"So what you're saying is that maybe when the war is over..." Ross trailed off, hoping Siri would pick up from there.

"I supposed that when the war is over then what is impossible now might be possible, but not before. So you can ask me then." Ross looked dejected for a moment, and Siri didn't feel like shutting him out totally after he had put so much into this "But you've grown on me, Ross. So while we can't see each other right now, I think friends would be a good place to start in the meantime." Ross took a moment to contemplate this. He leaned in closer, taking a slightly deeper breath, and while staring Siri dead in the eyes he responded with one defiant word.

"No."

Siri blinked. Of all the things he could have said, she definitely didn't expect that response.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" Siri asked, chuckling in confusion. She was somewhat worried she had angered him by relegating them to friends for the time being.

"I mean 'No, I'm not waiting until after the war.' I'm going to make you fall in love with me now." Ross spoke back just as defiantly as before, Siri could feel her cheeks reddening.

"Really?" Siri smirked. "Care to bet on that?"

"Well, if I win you over... I win you over. So my victory condition and reward are already decided. What about you?" Ross' growing grin was powerful and dominated her view. She definitely liked that about him.

"I'm sure I'll think of something especially humiliating for you to do. Get back to me later." Siri kept her smirk going. Ross chuckled, thinking of several possibilities in order from least to most embarrassing. After thinking of a particular scenario he paled for a moment and shook his head in slight terror. Siri laughed as her mind churned.

"So... about that debt you owe me for the whole saving your life thing." Ross began and Siri lifted a cautious eyebrow. "I believe you owe me a date, one date. As friends and professional colleagues, if it makes you feel better about it." Siri rolled her eyes. He was already being stubborn and pushy about this. His mind was made up and it was the 'only logical decision' that the two of them go on this date.

"Fine, we can go on _**one**_ friend date after I get back from Ilum. Pick somewhere nice, but not too nice. Jedi don't exactly have high-class casual clothes." Siri relented with a light . Ross had become someone she could like, even care about, and he did save her life. She owed him at least this much.

"I know just the place." Ross returned her smile warmly, and it slowly began to creep its way into her mind.

Siri had seen him smirk and grin before, but she was pretty sure this was the first time she saw him actually smile.

 **At the Temple**

The ride to the temple was fast, considering that it wasn't all too far away from the hospital. The gunships slowly descended, allowing its occupants to exit.

"So this is the Jedi Temple?" King questioned as looked up at the temple in slight awe. It didn't look high-tech, in-fact, it looked pretty old.

"Yep. This is where Naru and I were trained." Ahsoka said proudly before she was bopped on the head.

"I'm the one who trained here, you're still in training." Naruto corrected her, causing Ashoka to pout as he chuckled at her bratty teen attitude.

"Come on, let's get moving you two." Naruto stated as he took the lead. The Council wanted a full report of the situation in the South. More specifically, they wanted to know more about Ventress and the Dark Acolytes that had appeared at Leritor Minor, as well as Grievous' capabilities now that a skilled Master like Naruto had fought with him again. Naruto had brought King along because King had not only managed to survive fighting Ventress, he had also managed to defeat her as well, on his own.

"Naruto? It has been a while, hasn't it?" Naruto turned to find Obi-Wan. Smiling he nodded.

"Yes, that it has. What have you been up to, old man?" He hadn't seen much of Obi-Wan in the past month.

"Anakin and I just got back from a rather sticky situation on Tibrin." Tibrin? That was... Ah, so it was Obi-Wan's battlegroup that provided him support in the retaking of Giju, drawing Separatist forces away from the front lines. "I must say that battle you were in was quite devastating." Obi-Wan stated. He had heard some details about the battle Naruto had been in, not all the details, but he knew that it had left many dead.

"Sure was. I was actually heading to the Council Chambers to debrief you folks on Giju and Leritor too, as well as the other systems along the Rimma. I got redeployed so quickly after Leritor I didn't have to time to make any reports. The South is really heating up, think they're trying to take our eyes off of Felucia." Naruto responded as Obi-Wan shook his head.

"I was actually talking about Giju, but I'll hear about it more during your report. Obi-wan joined the group and the four of them heading towards the Council Chambers. As they neared the Chamber, Naruto turned to Ahsoka and King.

"Sorry, but I'm gonna have ask you two to wait here. Jedi Master business. After I finish with the Council, I'll call you in. Just protocol." Naruto stated as King saluted while Ahsoka pouted. He was treating her like a kid! Once Naruto and Obi-Wan entered the Chambers, Ahsoka looked at King. She had been itching to ask him for the past two weeks.

"So, King, did you really beat Asajj Ventress?" She questioned him, wanting to know if it was true. King nodded at the question.

"Yeah, though she did give me quite a bit of trouble." He responded, pointing to the thin crescent moon shaped scar near his eye. Ahsoka was slightly awed by the fact that a Clone was able to defeat a Sith, alone, in melee combat.

"You must be pretty powerful, but I bet that I'm better than that Sith was." Ahsoka boosted, confident in her skills. She had been training with Naruto in their spare time and she'd gotten better than the others in her youngling group. King raised an eyebrow, smelling the distinct scent of overconfidence in the air.

"Are you sure about that?" King questioned her with a chuckle as she nodded. "Care to prove it?" King questioned her once more. He knew that Ahsoka was good, but not as good as the leader of the Dark Acolytes, not yet. He should teach her a lesson to not underestimate your opponent before it becomes a bad habit.

"You're so on. I'll take you to the training hall!" Ahsoka answered, excited at the prospect at fighting a real opponent! King simply chuckled as he followed the hyperactive young Jedi.

 **Jedi Council Chambers**

"You were forced to retreat?" Master Mundi asked worriedly. This report of the Battle of Giju was truly troubling. Massive casualties to the 394th Legion and they barely managed to hold the planet.

"I did everything I could, but his mechanical body is able to outpace even me...unfortunately, Sha Koon's apprentice did not survive the encounter with Grievous." Naruto spoke somberly. His former master now also had a worried look on his face. He would have to speak with his niece about Baylis' passing to help her through the all too familiar pain of loss.

"I find it difficult to believe that you, possibly the fastest duelist in the Order, could be outpaced by a cyborg like Grievous." Eeth Koth voiced his doubts, but Naruto had nothing to say back. Grievous had four arms and was simply that fast. Naruto would encourage Master Koth to face him to confirm this report if he weren't in front of half the Council, with the other half being preoccupied in the many battles offworld.

"Grievous is a terrifying opponent. Remember that we almost lost Master Mundi to his slaughter on Bestine." Obi-wan defended Naruto and Mundi's hologram nodded in confirmation. "But I am curious. The reports say that almost the entirety of the 394th was wiped out in this battle, how did you manage to hold Giju with just a thousand Clones surviving?"

"We improvised and conscripted. The remnants of the 394th acted as the core of a locally-raised militia to help retake the planet. Eventually there were so many people fighting for the Republic that Grievous had to retreat. I think this would be a good strategy to employ in the future. Having small units of troops support larger planetary uprisings and resistance groups." Naruto had noticed that the irregulars, even his own, were very seldom given permission to be deployed. Disbanding these troops and reorganizing them into planetary militias would be better suited to the Republic's overall strategy, which was to capture seceding worlds and starve the Confederate war machine. It would do no good to simply have their limited amount of Clones charge in head first to each battle, suffer casualties, and then leave behind irregulars as a garrison force as they had been doing for the past few months.

"Your suggestion is noted, Master Naruto. However, I would like to discuss the other matter we brought you in for today, involving these dark side users you mentioned appeared at Leritor." Master Windu changed the topic. Naruto wasn't exactly looking forward to this, as the memory was still a little painful, but he was a soldier and he had to grin and bear the loss.

"There's not much to tell. Dooku has begun training more and more Force sensitives in the dark side. There were six presents on Leritor in total. Of the six, two escaped, including Ventress."

"The capabilities of these acolytes, judge them to be, what do you?" Yoda was worried that the Sith Empire of old was trying to make a return through his former apprentice's teachings. It could be a problem if they became too numerous or too powerful.

"Some are on the level of capable Jedi Knights. Others are green, barely Padawans. I only did battle with three of them, and I haven't seen any others since, but two of them were capable of holding me off long enough for it to become a problem." Naruto embellished the skills of his opponents a bit for a reason. He would rather the Council approach this new threat seriously than with a grain of salt. He didn't want Knights that had been rushed through the ranks to be put up against the likes of Ventress.

"Knew of Ventress' betrayal, we did, but these acolytes are cause for new concern." Yoda concluded, stroking his chin in thought.

"I agree. We will need some time to meditate on the issue. You are excused, Master Uzumaki." Naruto left the chambers after a polite bow to Mace and gave a small nod to Obi-wan on his way out.

"You don't think that Dooku's mysterious master will try to corrupt young Jedi into serving the Dark Side, do you?" Plo Koon asked the other masters, knowing that they had all asked themselves the same question.

"That is always a possibility we have to be wary of, not just because of this war or an unknown Sith Lord." Mace countered. A Jedi could never relax when facing the allure of the dark side.

"If what Uzumaki said is true, then it's all the more important that we test our older groups of initiates now. We will need even more Jedi to combat this new threat." Master Rancisis had grown a small fondness for Naruto's improved attitude upon becoming a Master. He would dare say that the boy was beginning to grow on him.

"Are we sure of Naruto's capability when it comes to judging these kinds of things. General Grievous is little more than a droid in Sith clothing." Saesee Tiin's hologram spoke. "He wasn't ready to be a Master. There's no guarantee that we can put our trust in him when he's not exactly the sharpest of mind." Naruto wasn't dumb, to be sure, but his intelligence was average at best, and this was no trifling issue for lacking wisdom.

"His intelligence was not what I trusted in when I voted to grant him the rank of Master, it was his skill and battlefield experience." Mace defended Naruto, albeit reservedly. Being totally honest with himself, he didn't think that Naruto was ready for the full rank and responsibilities of being a Master, but war has a nasty habit of not waiting until everyone is ready. He voted against his better judgement, and he didn't think he was alone in this. Masters Piell, Koth, and Gallia had taken quite a bit of time to cast their votes as well.

"In judging the threat of these new Acolytes, trust him, I do. In his assessment of this General Grievous, more skeptical, am I." Yoda's hologram proposed a compromise.

"I can agree to that. Naruto is capable in combat, but perhaps he's simply not suited to battling a cyborg like Grievous. Someone with more skill, an experienced Master, might be needed." Adi Gallia acknowledged that she wasn't the best duelist on the Council, and her brief encounter with General Grievous on Mimban had given her a reminder that she still had much to be desired physically.

"I just hope we're not rushing into things. I fear that we've lost the virtue of patience." Plo Koon warned, but Mace disagreed with that sentiment. He had even stepped down as Master of the Order for that very reason. He felt his obligation to the war would cloud his judgement as the leader of the Jedi.

"In times of war, there is seldom opportunity for patience."

 **Jedi Temple, Duelling Halls**

 _"She's so much like the general, it's uncanny."_ He thought to himself as the two headed to a practice hall located in the many courtyards of the temple. Finally reaching an empty room, the two stood against each other face-to-face as Ahsoka activated her blue training saber, while King took his own vibroblades out. Unlike Jedi who could simply lower the power of their blade, King had to disable the vibration function and coat the edges in a special sparring wax to avoid harming his opponent.

"Ready?" She questioned King, who nodded as he wiped the excess wax from his knives. He fought a crazy bald lady with two red glowing sticks, he was more than ready for an orange brat. Without warning, Ahsoka charged first, her saber held in the basic Form I. King however didn't move, allowing the saber to get closer before sidestepping to avoid the broad, predictable attack. Ahsoka quickly spun around in-order to land a hit, but once more King sidestepped, this time ending up directly behind her. Ahsoka swung her blade wildly at her back, but King simply kept himself behind her. She eventually pivoted on her foot and started to attack again. Ahsoka frown as she kept on trying to land a hit, but to not only was King keeping up with her, he was dodging each strike as well. He hadn't even used his blades

King had been dodging her all day long. He would be overconfident by now. He'd done good up until this point, but it was time for Ahsoka to unleash her secret weapon. Grinning as she flipped her saber, Ahsoka started using the reverse-grip Form V Shien. King was thrown off-balance by the sudden change in speed and power of her attacks, but he recognized the style as one used by Naruto and quickly adjusted. However, something still felt off and he was having difficulty in properly parrying her attacks, and that's when he realized the ingenuity of her reversed grip.

 _"Now!"_ She thought as she finally managed to catch him off-guard, quickly disarming him and pushing him onto the ground. She looked at him, a grin on her face. "Told you I was better than Ventress." She commented, but King chuckled.

"Good, to be sure, but not better. Not yet." King replied as he flexed his fingers. Ahsoka looked at him confused until she felt her legs being tied and pulled from underneath her, causing her to fall.

 _"Ninja wire?!"_ She shouted mentally. She could recognize those wires anywhere. Naruto had used those to play pranks in the Temple and he taught her to use them as well. They were quite handy if you wanted to be stealthy. Although he had told her that they did have their uses in combat, she had opted to use them for pranking. King, however, used it for what it was intended for.

"I win." King stated, causing her to look up, her own practice saber in his hand, pointing at her chest.

"If it hadn't been for these wires I would have won." Ahsoka grumbled as King removed the wires for her to get up.

"With that logic I could win every battle, 'if it hadn't been for the enemy, I would've taken that outpost'." King reasoned as Ahsoka pouted. King sighed as he threw her saber back at her. "Listen, kid. You're gonna be out there fighting in the war sooner rather than later, and in war nothing is fair. The enemy will have battleplans, tactics, weapons, and counter-strategy that you haven't anticipated. Things that you couldn't possibly anticipate. So always be sure to know your enemy and remain aware of your surroundings. You were too caught up on defeating a single opponent, me, that you failed to realize your own surroundings." King stated, causing Ahsoka to look down in embarrassment. How could she have forgotten all her training just like that?

"Well said, King." The two turned their heads to find Naruto, standing at the edge of the hall, smiling at them with a slow clap. "What King said is true Ahsoka. Be aware of your surroundings, now more so then ever. I fell into that trap against Dooku and it's not a mistake I'll be making again." Naruto stated as he then turned his attention to King. He could tell that the Clone Commander had improved quite a bit since the war started, but King still looked frustrated. "Something wrong?" Naruto asked, but King looked at Naruto, sternly.

"Sir, would you mind sparring with me? Not training like we have been, I want to face you at full strength." King questioned. He had faced down droids, a tired Sith, and an elite assassin. He wanted to see how he would fair with Naruto, a Jedi Master. To him Naruto wasn't just another Jedi General. No. Naruto was someone who could lead thousands of warriors into a losing battle and still come out victorious. There was just something about him that complied others to follow him. He wanted to see how he would stack up against such a person, someone stronger than your average Force sensitive.

"Well, if you insist, then I see no problem." Naruto replied as he began to take his position on the field, adjusting the power of his saber. Ahsoka quickly moved out of the field but remained close until Naruto gestured for her to back up. She moved onto the second-floor catwalk. She wanted to see everything Naruto was capable of as close as possible.

"You know those wires will be useless against _**me**_ , right?" Naruto questioned as King nodded with a smirk as he put away his wire. Naruto was the one who taught him how to use them. It would be useless against a man who had been using them since he was a child. King readied his vibroblades, his expression hardened as he waited for Naruto to attack and attack he did.

 _"I could barely even see him!"_ Ahsoka shouted to herself as King managed to block the incoming strike. Just how fast was Naruto? King was somehow able to keep up with Naruto's blinding speed strikes. He was always on the defensive, however, only pushing back when a counterattack presented itself. Naruto's Ataru strikes, while powerful and nearly imperceptible to non-Jedi, were still pretty predictable. King relied on his reflexes to guide his blades while his mind foresaw each blow.

 _"I can do this."_ King reasoned, but alas that was to change. He noticed that Naruto quickly changed his style. He wasn't using any particular lightsaber form, this was Naruto's own unique style that he had been developing ever since he first became a Jedi Knight.

Naruto had chosen Ataru and Form V Shien as his specialties. In his time with Shaak Ti, she drilled Makashi into his head, but the form's precise nature required tremendous amounts of discipline that he simply lacked. Training under Kit Fisto, he tried teaching him the advanced techniques of Shii Cho to make his attacks less predictable, but again, Naruto lacked the discipline for the counterintuitive bladework. But these efforts weren't for naught, as Naruto has taken what they had learned and turned them into valuable tools in his arsenal. After becoming a Knight, Naruto started learning the other forms, but only the rudimentary principles. He knew Soresu and Niman wouldn't suit him much but transitioning his specialty in Shien into Djem So wasn't too difficult, that was when it finally hit him.

So this awkward stance, with Naruto holding his sword hand directly in front of his mouth, and his left hand seemingly relaxed and his right side poised aggressively towards his opponent, this was the result of a dozen years of training coming to fruition. A style that combined the speed and relentlessness of Ataru with the much of the powerful counterattacks of Djem So, and the essences of Makashi and advanced Shii Cho. It was a form capable of delivering powerful attacks at lightning speed that you could only _**just**_ see coming. For most people, they would end up blocking poorly, if at all, but King had an advantage over most people:

He had seen it a few times before.

 _"A horizontal strike from the left, no, the upper sinister."_ King thought as the dark blue saber was coming for him, but he was ready to block it. However, Naruto quickly switched his angle of attack, turning his shoulder in the blink of an eye. Now the attack was coming from above angle. King barely, just barely, managed to block it.

"Nice one." Naruto commented, but he was just getting started. His attacks became ruthless as each series of strikes was enough to push King back. He'd held out for a few minutes beforehand, but Ahsoka counted, and he was blocking nearly ten strikes a second! She could barely keep up with the sheer speed at which Naruto was swinging his blade. He would launch a series of quick jabs and cuts, flip his blade into a reverse Shien grip, strike a few times, throw it into his other hand for a few more strikes from the other side, and on and on it went from nearly every angle. King was lucky he had two vibroblades otherwise he would have no hope of defending himself.

Half a minute of this onslaught from Naruto meant King was breathing heavily, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. Naruto, on the other hand, hadn't even started to slow down. Naruto took notice of his opponent's growing exhaustion, and knew it was time to strike. He suddenly flipped over King mid swing, throwing out reversed strikes from above before landing behind him before he quickly turned to deliver a roundhouse kick to King's side, sending him crashing into the ground, but King reversed his rolling momentum to trip the approaching Naruto, who just barely recovered, but the flow of his attacks had been interrupted and it gave King a brief respite as he crawled to his feet. Off to the side, Ahsoka watched the match with awe. She had realized that King had held back greatly during their match considering that he was able to hold back Naruto for this long.

"I'm amazed at how much Naruto has grown just during the war." The voice of Plo Koon caused her to turn and find a small crowd of Jedi had begun to gather and were watching the match intently. Some had been passerby observers that were enthralled by the expert dancing of blades. Many of them were amazed by Naruto's unique bladework. It was unearthly fast and unpredictable. Which made what King was doing even more surprising. It was unheard of - considered impossible - for a Clone to be able to keep up with a Jedi Master. Especially a dueling expert like Naruto.

"Had that Clone been force sensitive, he would have made a fine Jedi." It was Master Windu who said that, shocking many of the Jedi Knights and Padawans present. Windu wasn't known for his complements. For him to actually complement a Clone like that meant that King was no joke. Mace wasn't too keen on scaling the prowess of others, but if he had to speculate, King's overall skill was on the level of a mature padawan well on his or her way to Knighthood, but his ability in combat perception exceeded that definition.

"Naruto will win. His abilities with a blade are definitely on the level of a great Jedi Master." Plo Koon once again chimed in. He had trained Naruto when he was just a young boy and the blond had grown like none other before. His skills in combat were almost unmatchable, bested only by Jedi Masters that were held in the highest regard, and apparently Dooku and Grievous. There was no doubt in Plo Koon's mind that Naruto would one day become a Grand Master. There were rumors among the younger folk that Yoda intended to retire after the war and pass the torch along to Naruto, but those were just silly rumors.

"But can we talk about his bladework for a moment? That new lightsaber form is fierce. I definitely couldn't could out against it." Obi-wan joined the conversation. It was true that plenty of Jedi Masters eventually developed and mastered their own unique form of combat.

Someone like Shaak Ti, for example, had mastered both Makashi and Ataru to a very high degree and created cadences to freely flow between the two of them in combat at will. Yoda had taken the basics of all lightsaber forms and trained them to highest degree possible and combined these skills with centuries of Ataru mastery. Master Plo was also impressive, one of the few to defeat Grand Master Yoda in a duel with his powerful and unique standard grip variation of Shien. Master Windu? Well, he was the one that _**created**_ Vaapad so Ahsoka didn't have to think about that too long.

"It would certainly be frightening to go up against, and I'm saying this as a Master. I'm amazed King has held out against it for the two minutes he's managed so far." Aayla finally crawled out of the woodwork, her eyes transfixed on Naruto who was flipping over King, attacking in ways that no person should be able to predict, or block, and then flipping over King again to attack from a new angle. He was moving his blade and body so fast that it looked like King was starting to be surrounded by a dome of dark blue light. Ahsoka was completely stunned by Naruto. She always knew he was good, but she never thought he could be this good.

"But alas, this new form is still yet incomplete. It has two glaring weaknesses and I'm sure Dooku exploited both of them as best he could once he recovered from the initial shock. To fix one, it requires only continued training and experience, but the other is something that only Naruto could potentially overcome." Plo Koon complimented his former Padawan with a hint of doubt. Ahsoka was curious, she couldn't see any weaknesses at all. Naruto's Ataru offense was bolstered by an aggressive Djem So defense. She was too stubborn to ask, so she tried to spot it herself, but she found herself distracted by the rising chatter of the young Knights and Padawans around her.

"Whoa, did you see that? Is that really a Clone down there?" A short-haired girl was amazed by King's skills, which led Ahsoka down an entire train of thought as to if Naruto had given King some basic lessons in Jar'kai.

"That doesn't look like any Ataru I've seen!" a Zabrak Padawan shouted, completely unaware that Naruto's form was original. These distractions ultimately grabbed part of Ahsoka's attention, and she was surprised to hear the clashing of lightsaber and vibroblades stop, and a loud thud echo throughout the hall.

"I win." Ahsoka's attention snapped back to the duel before her as Naruto proclaimed victory over King, who had been knocked down onto his back just like her, although he was brought down from the stinging sensation of a lightsaber impacting his chest instead and grumbling about how it was absolutely impossible to defeat Naruto without the aid of the Force to which Naruto chuckled.

"It's not about whether you have the Force or not, it's about being aware of your surroundings, your opponents' capabilities..." Naruto threw out the same advice King had given to Ahsoka back at him alongside his hand, a small smirk on his face. Even he could get one-track mind sometimes. King blamed this on his objective-oriented Commando training, but even this weakness was something he could hope to overcome in time. There was always room to improve. He pulled himself up with Naruto's help and that was when Ahsoka saw what she thought the masters had seen.

Naruto was beginning to sweat.

In all her years, Ahsoka had never seen Naruto break a sweat or suffer from any signs of physical exertion whatsoever. Naruto's stamina was in a class of its own and it was somewhat jarring to see him exert himself trying to pull King onto his feet. Then, it clicked in her head. Naruto was only able to manage that supersonic offense by exerting his body to the absolute limit and focusing everything he had mentally into Force Valor. Keeping up something like that would utterly destroy one's own body within a few seconds. Naruto had been using it for almost three whole minutes. She figured that Naruto maybe had another couple of minutes in him at most before he would eventually have to stop fighting altogether. Master Plo was right, that saber form really was something that only Naruto could ever hope to master.

Down below, King was exhausted beyond belief, barely having the energy to stand. His muscles were burning from the near superhuman exertion he had put them through. His shoulders, knees and wrists ached from the constant barrage of power attacks coming from all angles, even above and below. Ahsoka could see from her perch up above that the hardened wax on his blades had long been torn to pieces by Naruto's nearly ruthless offense. Naruto was also sporting a small cut on his lower neck from an almost lucky counterattack King managed to get in.

Wait, Ahsoka thought he had said there were two weaknesses? If bodily strain was one, then what was the other?

 **Jedi Temple Hangar, Three Days Later**

A few days had passed, and Siri had finally discharged herself just the other day, against the advice of the doctors and medical droids who thought her foot still needed more time to heal. With the Republic now fighting a heated war on two fronts, with General Tann spreading out from Confederate strongholds and the South and Grievous moving his forces to Felucia to reopen the Northwestern theater. In a response to this, the Jedi Council, after great debate, had chosen to conduct the initiate trials early, and sent dozens of younglings to search for the crystals that would allow them to build their own lightsabers.

"They're only kids…" Naruto muttered, not liking the idea one bit. Once these Padawans had gained their own lightsabers, their training would be soon taken over by a Jedi Master and that meant fighting on the frontlines and the battlefield was no place for kids.

"You were a kid once too, and only eleven when you fought in the Mandalorian Civil War." Ahsoka pointed out as Naruto sighed. That was true. He was but a child when he first got involved in a war, but that experience made him determined to not have other Jedi suffer through the same grim reality, but the Order was beginning to get desperate. More and more Jedi were pushed into military service, spread throughout the galaxy as the Separatists waged war with their endless armies.

"Just because I did something once doesn't make it right. It's not healthy to go into a war so young." Naruto argued, although he was somewhat hypocritical in his thinking. He was training to become a shinobi and most saw combat by the time they were in their early teens, if not sooner for some. These Padawans were about the age, but they still wouldn't stand a chance on a real battlefield with thousands of droids blasting them. They weren't ready. Hell, he wasn't.

"Always the pacifist, aren't you?" Siri's voice caused him to turn and look at her. She seemed good as new. As if she wasn't nearly killed just shy of a month earlier.

"Aren't Jedi supposed to be keepers of peace?" Naruto questioned with a raised eyebrow as Siri smirked.

"If fighting is how we have to keep the peace, then so be it." Siri answered as Naruto chuckled. The two were not what one would call traditional Jedi.

"Right. Well, let's get on already. The shuttle won't be waiting all day, ya know?" Naruto stated, but blushed.

"Is someone's verbal tick coming back?" Siri questioned as she wiggled her eyebrows, causing Naruto to grit his teeth and snarl.

"Is someone's weight coming back?" Naruto snapped back without thinking, entering territory he shouldn't have and received a nice series of punches to his left shoulder as he ran onboard the shuttle, followed by a raging Siri.

"Sometimes I have to wonder if the two of them really are Jedi Masters or if the Council is playing a really big prank on me in revenge for …" Ahsoka simply said to the rest of her youngling group as she led the initiates onto the shuttle.

 **Well, there you have It! I can already imagine the reviews. Siri x Ross? Wtf Fanwriter? Why not Siri x Naruto? Hold your horses my dear readers and writers alike. This is being done for a…good reason and that is all I will say on that matter, but anyways, what has Sidious planned for Naruto? What shall become of the war? And most importantly, when will the next Chapter come out? I don't know, late March? Early April? Depends on how fast I can finish my University work before working on the chapter, but I assure you that you will see an end to this story! I mean, look how bloody large it is and we haven't even reached the middle of this story! This is like, what? Arc 3? It's gonna be long. With that said, I will see you all next time.**


	22. The Storm

**Hello there! I hope you are all doing great today! I know I have kept you all waiting for this chapter, but it's here! And boy oh boy does this chapter really kick things up! I will just let you al read it and then leave you…angry….reviews.**

 **Chancellor's Office, Later That Day**

Overlooking the city, the Sith Lord in a guise known as Palpatine sat in his chair, plotting his next course of action against a single Jedi that was starting to become a problem as of lately. Having failed to come up with a solution on his own, he shared his predicament with the one person he truly trusted. As much as a Sith Lord could trust, at least.

"The Jedi will be vulnerable in this coming mission. I suggest we make use of the tracker our agent planted on their shuttle." Mas Amedda spoke from his position. He was Palpatine's closest confident for he was one of the very few who knew about his true identity as a Sith Lord. Amedda had known for quite a long time the problem the blond Jedi had been becoming, but had chosen not to speak up, letting Sidious do what he deemed was fit.

"He may well be, and it would be a prime opportunity to strike. But what concerns me is the secrecy of the Order's mission. Knowledge of the mission to Ilum is far more exclusive than general military operations. Uzumaki is already too close and has proven himself capable of escaping situations that seem impossible." Sidious spoke, carefully considering every word he said. That tracker was their saving grace. It opened up the possibile spy to just about anyone with access to the Jedi Temple Hangar Bay, but it's existence would confirm that there was a mole somewhere in the Republic's ranks.

"But should this trend continue, and I find it all too likely that it will, there would be no contingency. He will report the encounter to the Order and there will be little we can do to stall a senatorial appointment of a special investigator, likely Uzumaki himself considering he's the one closest to cracking the case already. He will investigate High Command and then yourself. After that, it would only be a matter of time before our plan is discovered." Amedda responded as Palpatine closed his eyes and leaned back into his chair, wondering just how bold his actions could be.

 _"He is too cautious now, so sending him to a battle on hastily gathered intel won't be enough. He's dedicated an entire company to intelligence gathering."_ Sidious thought, regretting his approval of the merger. The 497th now even had more manpower than a typical Legion, and they were all fiercely loyal to Naruto. Sidious had thrice tried to get the blond killed, and any dubious CIS deployments would immediately raise flags. Naruto would start actively searching for the one responsible in High Command. No, despite Sidious' efforts to delay him, Uzumaki would eventually grow impatient with the Chancellor's 'lack of progress' and conduct his own investigation, and those tracks would eventually lead the blond right to him. Sidious snarled in frustration. This wasn't just a good opportunity, it was their only opportunity before Uzumaki went from troublesome obstacle to a serious threat against his takeover of the Republic.

"Why not send someone to cause an incident. Dooku, perhaps?" Amedda questioned the Sith Lord, who's frown turned into a sneer. His apprentice as of late seemed to only be of use when it came to failing him.

"Uzumaki has possibly surpassed Dooku since their last encounter. Dooku grows older and feebler with each passing moment, while the Jedi is young and full of potential. He grows more dangerous every day." Palpatine stated the truth. While Dooku was a gifted duelist and a powerful Sith that was clear a cut above most Jedi Masters, Naruto was on a whole different level physically, and he would not fall for the same trick Dooku pulled on Rhen Var. The boy was always a fast learner, even if Skywalker was beginning to catch up.

"My Lord, I'm afraid you may have misunderstood me. I'm not suggesting that you assassinate Uzumaki. It is not necessary that you kill him." Amedda clarified. This puzzled Sidious, who was eager to know more. Seeing the inquiry on the Chancellor's face, Amedda continued. "His death is the most desired outcome, to be sure, but there is another option. We could... _discredit_ the Jedi." Palpatine lit up a bit.

"Yes..." the word was quiet and drawn out, eventually fading to a malevolent silence. He saw where his Vice Chair was going, and the gears of his mind began to turn.

"Then who, if not Dooku, shall you send to facilitate this incident?" Amedda questioned. Sidious had made it clear that Dooku wasn't an option, but who was? Surely, Sidious wasn't planning on going to kill the boy himself? Impossible, that was far too risky. Uzumaki might deign to flee, and the entire galaxy would know Palpatine's true identity within the day. Sidious responded only with a dark smirk and a sinister chuckle.

Uzumaki was observant, and his curiosity had brought him closer than anyone should have ever gotten in unveiling Sidious' identity. But he was far more intelligent, and the blond lacked the Sith Lord's resources and political power, and those were weaknesses Sidious could exploit. They was what would be the blond's downfall.

And there was one obstacle the boy had yet to overcome.

 **Onboard the** _ **Crucible**_ **, Ilum System, Four Days Later**

Once the shuttle had taken off, Naruto and Siri had rendezvoused with a small Paladin-class corvette that had been used for a thousand year to make the trip to Ilum, and a single CR90 gunship escort. Knowledge of the hyperspace routes leading to Ilum a closely guarded secret. All Jedi were limited to only knowing a few of the routes and a different route was used every time. Not to mention it was a system located within the Unknown Regions of the galaxy with no Separatist presence. Dooku would be foolish to dedicate resources to a blockade of Ilum. The Order did not expect them to meet any resistance from the Separatists, but Naruto insisted that they be given at least some form of protection in case Dooku happened to guess their route.

Or...in case a certain unidentified Separatist spy in High Command tipped them off.

Onboard the shuttle, Naruto met with another group of younglings that he would be escorting to The Gathering. There were maybe a dozen and a half in this group, pretty large compared to the standard. This was the first group younglings being pressed into early military service, so the Jedi probably gathered up all the best initiates they could find.

"Well, this brings back memories." Siri commented as she watched over the younglings in the twilight of their time as initiates. The corvette made the long journey to Ilum in a few days. She remembered how she had first gotten her crystal and made her lightsaber.

"Yeah, but I still hate this blasted planet. Too cold for my liking. I have no intention of being off the ship for more than half an hour." Naruto stated causing Siri to giggle. The blond wasn't fond of extreme environments. He hated snowy, rainy, desert, or volcanic planets. He was lucky enough to receive his first crystal from Siri, but that didn't spare him from having to make the spiritual journey through the caves on Ilum. The Jedi held Ilum in high regard due to it being strong with the Force and the fact that it was the place where most Jedi get their first kyber crystals.

Shaking his head, Naruto looked at Ahsoka who was surrounded by dozens of tiny floating pieces that were slowly coming together into a cylinder. She had met with Professor Huyang a few hours ago and gotten some spare parts to practice the construction of her lightsaber with. A handful of other impatient younglings had followed suit, but some had chosen to wait until they got their crystal first.

" _Their concentration is good, but it could be better. They don't know the difference between creating one with and without a crystal. The power that the crystal exudes completely changes your focus."_ Naruto thought as he observed Ahsoka piece together her lightsaber via the Force. Despite her shortcomings, the process wouldn't take as long for someone like Ahsoka. She was far ahead of the game compared to the other Padawans.

"Very good work, Ahsoka." Siri commended as Ahsoka smiled, her bladeless lightsaber in hand. She felt much pride in making her own weapon, and the gazes of amazement from her fellow initiates only emboldened that feeling. No more practice sabers after this. She finally had her own!

"Well, I wouldn't expect anything less from my future Padawan." Naruto stated as he chuckled. Ahsoka looked at him with gleeful surprise.

"You're really taking me on as a Padawan?" She asked to make sure she had heard him correctly, to which he nodded. This way, he could teach her and also keep an eye on her given the situation that the galaxy was plunged in. She was reckless, as most young Jedi were, but Naruto was the master of recklessness.

"I've been planning on it for a while. I just have to ask from the Council, which shouldn't be too hard." He responded. As much as the Council disliked the idea of attachment, Naruto would not let some random Jedi be assigned to Ahsoka and they were aware that this was a situation in which it was best to simply make a cautious exception. Less they want to find their robes shredded or dyed orange.

"We're here." Siri commented as the small Republic corvette exited out of hyperspace, with the planet Ilum in their sight. Naruto sighed as he stood up.

"Well, we'd better change into some winter gear." Naruto said as he heard the Initiates towards the storage bay to receive some heavy coats. The ship soon made its way past the atmosphere and slowly landed upon the snowy planet that seemed to be stuck in eternal winter.

"Let's get this over with." Naruto stated as the ramp lowered as the freezing winds hit the group in the face. Naruto immediately started shivering. He definitely wasn't one for extreme weather without a battle to keep his blood pumping.

"I-It's _really_ cold." Ahsoka shuddered as she hugged herself to keep herself warm. Naruto nodded as he too was trembling from the cold, the two closed in to share what body heat they could.

"Oh knock it off you two! It isn't that bad." Siri shouted at the two. Naruto and Ahsoka only gave her a stoic look seeing as Siri was only lightly dressed in winter clothing, while the everyone else - aside from the Wookiee - were bundled up from head to toe.

"Sure… coming from someone who wasn't born in the warmth of a sun. Is that why you're such an ice queen to Ross, because you were born in winter?" Naruto shot back, having no idea how Siri was not feeling the extreme cold of the planet. She completely ignored him and moved towards the giant wall of ice ahead of them. Naruto realized they were already there, and he reached out with his hand alongside her.

Slowly, the large pillars of ice began to shake, then they started to sink into the ground, revealing the entrance to the cave. Naruto wasted no time in making his way inside and out of the cold. Siri waved her hand to signal that, yes, the younglings were supposed to follow them inside.

When Siri was an initiate, it was a time of peace and Master Yoda was here waiting to guide the initiates with his words of wisdom. With the war, however, he found himself too busy to make this particular trip to Ilum. So now all they had for wisdom was - well, not Naruto - so she guessed it was just her.

"Alright kids, time to listen up!" Siri called to attention all of the initiates.. "Once you go into the cave, you have a limited about of time to find your crystals before the entrance freezes up on you. If you fail to find your crystal before it freezes, you will be stuck in the cave for one full rotation until the sun is in position to melt it again." Siri started as she pointed at the top of the room, where a strange contraption sat dormant. Siri looked over to Naruto who had finally stopped shivering.

"Would you like to do the honors?" Siri asked. Naruto shrugged and raised his hand into the air, using the Force to shift the crystals around into the right spot. The sun shone through the room, providing a small bit of warmth to Naruto's liking. The focusing crystal was at last in place and a magnified beam of light struck a point above the frozen wall of ice. The heat spread quickly throughout the entire doorway and the ice melted almost instantly, the water flowing down into the drainage system. The younglings could see that not long after, the sun moved out of its position and the ice had already started to reform. They turned back for more instructions from the Jedi Masters, who only looked at them curiously.

"Well, what are you all waiting for? You don't have all day. In fact, I think you maybe only have an hour. Well, maybe a _**bit**_ longer." Naruto spoke up with a cheeky grin, causing the initiates to scramble into the cave to find their crystals as quickly as possible with Ahsoka pouting at Naruto, who only gestured to his wrist before pointing into the cave. Ahsoka hesitated for a moment, but she quickly ran in after the Initiates.

"Well, now that they've gone in. I'll be heading back; this place always did make me feel sleepy. Wake me when they're finished." Naruto said with a yawn. Siri opened her mouth to protest, but Naruto was already halfway back to the ship. She simply accepted that she was the sole Jedi in charge of the mission now.

 **Crystal Cave**

"Wait!" Ahsoka shouted, running after the other younglings into the cave, but they were already far too ahead and had taken different paths once inside, causing Ahsoka to sigh. They should have stuck together, not split up immediately.

 _"Those two kept this whole ordeal vague on purpose…"_ Ahsoka thought, knowing that Naruto and Siri wanted them to figure things out on their own. Well, in Naruto's case it might have been pure laziness. Sighing once more, she began to search for her crystal on her own. With that in mind, she began to walk down one of the paths in the cave.

 _"No…"_ She blinked her eyes as she heard someone whisper into her ear, causing her to turn around to see if somebody was behind her.

"Hello?" She called out. Seeing that no one was behind her, she turned back around. Nothing was there. She reached out with the Force, but found his mind clouded by the powerful presence the caves exuded. Turning back around, she thought she saw a light ahead, but it quickly disappeared behind a corner. She rushed to follow it, and she turned the corner to find an orange flame floating in the air, blocking the way forward.

Suddenly, and as if frightened by her presence, the flame retreated quickly through the cavern. Ahsoka chased after it with haste. When she caught up with it, the flame was gone, but a bright orange kyber crystal formation lay in front of her. Well, her skin was orange, and Naru's favorite color was orange too. Maybe it was meant to be. And hey - orange was the rarest crystal color of all, so - bragging rights. Master Yaddle was the only person she could think of that had an orange lightsaber, and she passed away four years ago. She was pretty sure that made her, like, the only Jedi to currently have one.

Ahsoka reached out to grab her crystal but was suddenly stopped by some sort of invisible forcefield. She pulled her hand back, curious, before reaching again, only to find that she couldn't come have as close as before. She tried again with more effort, and she came closer, but again, she was being repulsed. She looked and her hand in confusion, and then back at the crystal.

Was this crystal using the damn Force to push her hand away?

"Well, fine then. Screw you, you picky bastard crystal." Ahsoka cursed. She would regret her words when the crystal seemed to react to them. Ahsoka was thrown back violently but was surprised when nothing caught her at the top of the arc. She could've sworn there was an ice wall behind her. Ahsoka panicked as she started freefalling, but it was only a short distance drip before she landed on a glacier that she couldn't quite get a hold on. She began slipping down the icy formation before crashing into the snowbank below. Ashoka sighed in frustration as she dug herself out of the snow.

"I'm gonna kill that crystal if I see it again. I don't know how, but I'm gonna do it." Ahsoka wiped the snow off her headtails and looked up only to find that she wasn't the cave anymore. But a completely different place. It was arboreal area, and it was actually a bearable temperature. She looked around and quickly realized she was in a small village. The buildings made mostly out of hardened mud, wood, and clay. Some were lucky enough to have straw roofs for extra warmth. She looked around and suddenly realized that the village was completely devoid of life. She looked around, noticing that many items were scattered about the earth. Hammers, bundles of sticks, even perfectly good meat was left rotting in the mud. This village had been abandoned, and quickly. She was suddenly aware of a fire off in the distance.

Ahsoka ran forward to see the source of the smoke, it wasn't too long of a trip, but she wished she hadn't made it. What she saw was death as another village burned before her.

"W-What's going on?" She muttered out as the entire village seemed to be on fire. Walking them it, saw many bodies on the ground. Some were soaked in water, seemingly drowned on solid earth. Other corpses had been burned to a crisp, and the smell wasn't none too pleasant. A few had even worse fates, being buried alive with a few limbs of their limp bodies sticking out of the ground haphazardly.

 _"What is this, some kind of... genocide? Why?"_ Ahsoka thought as she kept moving forward and she saw several people running in terror, some seemed to be soldiers fleeing from the advance of whatever was plaguing the village, they threw primitive bombs and had strange star shaped metal objects in their hands. In the chaos, a human woman carrying a toddler tripped next to Ahsoka. She looked down and saw a youngling was a human-Twi'lek hybrid, indicated by his oddly colored hair. In fact, most everyone she saw running was either some kind of hybrid or a full-blooded human - at least as far as she could tell. After a certain point of crossbreeding, human genes eventually overpower the traits of most other species. She thought she saw maybe one devaronian and a Zabrak couple, but what intrigued her most was the clothing they were all wearing, more specifically, the armor of the fleeing warriors.

"That's Mandalorian armor... on a Zabrak?" Ahsoka questioned. She was thoroughly confused. Mandalorian armor was sacred and not just anyone was allowed to wear it. One had to be chosen as a crusader by the Mand'alor himself. Now that she thought about it, all of the people here were shouting in something that sounded a lot like Mandalorian. She swore she had heard it before. This was a highly primitive village, maybe it was a very, _**very**_ old Mandalorian dialect. Did that mean she was seeing a vision of ancient Mandalore?

Ahsoka continued through the village until she saw the source of the chaos. Pale-skinned humans with white hair and horns were at the epicenter of all this death; a woman with pale white skin and hair was leading them, but she had a feature that was even more striking than the horns the others had.

 _"Is that an_ _ **eye**_ _on her forehead?"_ Ahsoka thought, referring to the strange red orb right above her horn nubs. She was choking the life out of one of the Mandalorian warriors holding some type of strange metal knife. The woman released the man's limp body from her grasp and turned to look at Ahsoka the veins around her eyes contorting, causing the young Padawan to stumble back at the sheer aura of power that the women gave off. Ahsoka hadn't meant to, but she tripped over something and fell to the ground. She looked around and saw the familiar culprit.

 _"Ninja wire?!"_ Ahsoka exclaimed mentally. Ahsoka quickly scrambled to her feet and broke into a sprint as the white-haired women gave chase. She was somehow floating through the air. She was flying much faster than Ahsoka could run and was nearing her. Ahsoka made a sharp turn right, only to slam into the wall of a building.

Collapsing onto the ground and gripping her face in pain, Ahsoka it shook off once she realized her nose was thankfully not broken and there was no blood. Turning around, she noticed the woman was no longer chasing her, and the fire had disappeared. Actually, the entire village and forest had disappeared as well.

"Where am I now?" She said to herself as the scenery had changed once more. This was another village, but it was much larger. The buildings were made out of stone, plaster, and steel. But like the last one, it was destroyed. Smoke was still reaching as far as the sky, but the fires had been put out thanks to the massive, oddly placed heaps of sand that had crushed entire buildings seemingly deliberately. She saw bodies of men, women, and even a few children litter the grounds of the ruined village.

A malicious chuckle got her attention as she turned to find a pale skinned man with sick yellow eyes laughing as the corpse of a redheaded boy, around her age, lay before his feet. He had dark circles around he lifeless eyes. He placed a tattered white hat on his head with a red triangle outlining a strange symbol that she couldn't understand.

 _"And so ends the era of the Third! This is the beginning of a new era for the Leaf!_ _ **My**_ _era!"_ the man shouted with laughter before raising his palms into the air. The piles of sand around the village found themselves raising into the air and danced with the gesticulation of his hands. Strangely, Ahsoka could understand the man unlike before. The man lowered his hands and the sand fell. He suddenly turned around and looked straight into Ahsoka's eyes, the eerie cackle returned and soon echoed throughout the village and shook Ahsoka to the bone.

" _What is it that you're looking for, my dear?"_ a long snake like tongue emerged with his last word. His broke out into another chuckle that turned into hysterical laughter. Ahsoka noticed that the man's eyes had changed from yellow slits into strange looking red ones with what looked like three strangely shaped pupils spread along a ring in his iris. She suddenly felt cold and started shivering, and she soon realized it wasn't from the man's horrifying visage, but from the icy of the cavern around her. She was back at the bottom of the glacier.

 **Taris, 10th Army Base**

King was having a fantastic time, if my fantastic you meant having to sort out the logistics of the 497th then yes, he was having "fun". Ross and Naruto had laid the groundwork, but he actually had to put the new plan into motion.

"They didn't teach us this in commando training…" King muttered as Fox chuckled at that. Fox himself had been recovering from the battle, so he still had some bandages wrapped around his wounds.

"On the bright side, we won't getting shot at by any droids for the next week or so." Fox reasoned as King nodded. After the last battle Force knows they needed down time to recover their losses. Ross was commanding the other Legions in the 10th Army in an effort to push towards Saleucami, an economic powerhouse that was basically the second capital of the Techno Union. Taking Saleucami would likely cripple so much of the Confederate war machine that their capitulation would be inevitable.

"Well, we better introduce the shinnies to their new positions." King stated as he stood up, followed by Fox as they made their way to the barracks.

"Well, considering their first mission was getting blown out of the sky and fighting against impossible odds, they aren't shines anymore." Fox commented as King thought about that. Most of the 644th was wiped out, but those that survived were clearly the better of the bunch. That wasn't to say those that died were weak - far from it.

It was Fox and Naruto's plan to train Clones in more specialized warfare, and then assign missions according to the skills of the individual group and assigning each mission a difficulty and scope of operation. One wouldn't want to assign a green heavy weapons company on a difficult stealth operation? For the most part, King had to break down the rigid structure that the Republic had implemented and rebuild it from the ground up. In theory, it would work, but with only a single - albeit enlarged - Legion to work with, completing the new system proved impossible. King only wished that they could make use of the one million irregulars that had been assigned to pointless facility maintenance and garrison duties. They signed up wanting to fight and High Command all but refused to give them any sort of responsibility.

 _"That plan is out the window, for now."_ Fox thought. With the 644th suffering such massive casualties and the decision to integrate the remainder of the 644th into the 497th, they couldn't test out their system, at least not until they had a new legion under their command, but that would take time.

"Look, I'm tellin ya, something's up with the Admiral." They heard Storm's voice as they neared the 10th Regiment's barracks. King raised an eyebrow at that, while Fox chuckled.

"What's that all about?" King questioned Fox, who sighed.

"Storm's afraid that the Admiral is going to swoop in and steal away his crush. Face it, Storm. She's a total babe and there's no way a Jedi like her would fall for a Clone that'll be wrinkled and greying in fifteen years." Fang's voice was heard next and you could practically see the grin on his face with the way he said it. Looks like Storm was being teased, again. Wait a minute, what had King just heard?

 _'Crush. Babe. Jedi.'_ he thought to himself. It didn't take long for him to piece it together. "Storm has a crush on General Siri?" King questioned Fox, a bit surprised by this new revelation. Fox could only blink at that.

"You didn't know? Almost everyone in the 14th Corps knows." Fox replied. King could only shrug at that, he was too busy fighting in the war and didn't take notice of the social affairs of the legion.

"I do not have a crush on her!" Storm shouted back.

"Do too!" Fang replied.

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!" Storm said with confidence before realizing what he had just said. Fang shot him a victorious grin.

"Storm and Siri, sitting in a tree k~i~s~s-" Fang started to sing a silly youngling song and Storm's face created a whole new - never before seen - shade of red before he finally blew his gasket.

"That's it!" He shouted as he delivered a cybernetic kick to Fang's chest. The stealth captain recovered as quickly as possible and began running from Storm's wrath. In one-on-one combat, Storm would definitely kick his ass. Even with that leg of his, he was second only to Blitz and King in terms of combat ability in the entire Legion.

"You're dead." Storm said with a frightening degree of finality. He had gotten an early surprise attack in, but it was impossible for Storm to keep pace with Fang while still acclimating to his prosthetic leg. It didn't matter, he was certain that idiot would slip up eventually and get caught. The passersby could only laugh. King sighed as he turned to Fox, who was also chuckling.

"Those children, I swear." King sighed as two continued their childish antics into the next room. Fox nodded in agreement, but he was trying to hide his smile. He would rather not have one of their own murdered by their own brother, even if it was rightly just, but that didn't make the idea any less humorous. Approaching the door, they quickly opened it to find Storm crushing Fang's throat with his shiny new metal foot.

"Who has a _**crush**_ now?!" Storm shouted as Fang, despite being choked to death, gave out a grin.

"...you." Fang answered through his compressed windpipe. Storm would have pressed down harder had it not been King's timely intervention.

"All right, knock it off you two." King's voice drew everyone's attention as they all turned to face their commander and stood at attention. King nodded at that. Despite being a rowdy bunch, they knew when to be professionals…in their own way. "Captains meeting, twenty minutes. Let everyone else know and don't be late." Storm and Fang both nodded. Storm desperately wanted to wring his brother's neck, but he was more afraid of inciting King's wrath than he desired to kill Fang, so he let it slide. For now...

"You take that hall, I'll take this one?" Fang asked. Storm shrugged in agreement and the two turned their separate ways.

 **10th Army Headquarters Element**

As ordered, all eighty-three Captains of the newly reformed 497th Legion

"Now then, the remaining elements of 644th will be fully integrated with the 497th effective immediately to bring the legion up to full strength. Now, even we suffered some loses in our officer ranks." King stated, stopping to give a brief moment of silence for their fallen brothers.

"We have taken ranks from the 644th that will be replacing and filling in our personnel openings. We've been approved for a total merger, so we now have twenty companies in each regiment. So instead of a little over nine thousand troops in the Legion, we'll have eleven and a half. And change." King continued the announcement. This news was met with much cheering and howling. More manpower meant more opportunities in combat. After the roar settled down, Fox decided to pick up where King had left off.

"As per the Chancellor's orders, there will be a battalion assigned to be Naruto's personal guard to avoid the assassination attempts that seem to have been plaguing us recently. I will be personally commanding this battalion, in addition to my duties as Surface Marshal for the entire Corps. However, in regard to daily responsibilities, Captain Arms will be in command, and I expect you to follow his orders as you would one of mine." A few of the Captains there began bumping the shoulders and sides of said Captain Arms, formerly the Captain of the 17th Regiments 4th Company

"Most of the transfers are just a full Company transfer from one Legion to another but are a few replacements. Starting with the 10th Regiment: Captain Charcoal will be replacing Dumbbells as the commander of the 16th Company." King spoke up a bit somberly as he pressed a button on his data pad to show all the reorganizations. Steel Company had suffered tremendous losses on Leritor to the point where it had to be completely restructured.

"Someone stayed in the incubator a little too long." Fang joked, pointing to Charcoal's scarred face before he was shushed by an elbow into his gut. He gestured his apology when he realized Charcoal

"The other change is that Captain Toad of Brains Company will be transferring here from the 68th Legion. He should arrive in a couple days."

"Whoa, wait a minute. Toad from Brains Company? As in, Wiz's personal group of nerds?" This time it was Flash who spoke up. Brains Company was Wiz's think tank when it came to tactics and strategies on the battlefield. They were a bit of a pariah for their mediocre combat strength and asocial tendencies. They rest of the Legion had gotten on fine with Wiz, as much of an oddball that he was, but most of the others were tolerated at best. When Wiz was promoted to Commander of the 68th Legion, Toad had taken his place and his Company over, much to the relief of many Captains.

"Yes, Brains Company, and he's bringing two of the lieutenants back over, too." There was a small wave of groans from the old Captains. Not only were they all a bunch of supernerds, but they were often insufferable with their superior intellect and greater knowledgeability. Toad was a notable offender.

"I will not hear any of this nonsense again." Fox spoke loudly as he slammed his fist onto the desk, making a small crack in the wood. He has tried diligently to maintain order in the 497th while they were training on Kamino. "You all will treat him with the same respect you give one another already. He is a Captain, he is your equal."

"Actually, he's their superior." Fox turned to King in confusion, while the other Captains simply paled in disbelief. "He's taking over for me as Regimental Commander for the 10th. I've been playing this balancing act between three jobs for too long." King was the Captain of the 1st Company and Regimental Commander on Geonosis. He'd chosen to maintain both positions after being named Commander of the entire Legion. He was now giving that up to one of them 'Brainiacs'? The Captains wanted to protest, but they were afraid of upsetting Fox. Seeing no disturbances, King continued.

"There are troops from the 644th that will be taking over. I want you all to welcome them into the legion and I want the transition to be smooth." King ordered. Everyone in the room were now officers in the 497th Legion. The old guard would have to deal with new faces in the Legion given the amount of freedom that each individual Clone within the 497th had.

"How about we throw them a party? That way everyone can celebrate!" Spirit suggested, already planning one in his head.

"I don't think that those long-necks taught us anything about party planning. I'll pass." Gamble replied, joking about their creators as everyone san King, who shook his head, laughed.

"Whatever you all decide to do, please don't scare the new guys away with your craziness. Dismissed!" King announced.

"You're calling us crazy? Do we need to remind you that you took on a pale bald lady with magic space powers and a glowing red laser sword, _**alone?**_ " Fang remarked as everyone laughed - with respect, of course - at that joke. King might claim that he was the only sane Clone in the 497th, but everyone knew in the legion that King was definetly the craziest Clone within the legion. Having charged in and fighting two force sensitive beings and putting his life in danger more times than they can count, it was safe to say that King did not fear death.

"Perhaps I should assign you all on janitorial duty? The droids could use some time off." King spoke up as he turned back around, only to find many of Captains already gone. The slower ones were crowding the door

"Well... good to know they can run out of here faster than the General if they really half to." Fox joked as King blinked at the empty room. No one liked cleaning duty, but he didn't know it was that bad.

 _"Guess that's why we have cleaning droids."_ He thought as he began to head back to the command station with Fox right beside him.

"Where do you think we will be deployed next? I hear that the Separatist have begun another new campaign from Mygeeto." Fox questioned as King frowned. The Separatists had attacked from Yag'dhul and worlds like Fonder had fallen to them, worlds that the 497th had fought and protected. Now they were started to encroach in on Ord Mantell, with over a dozen systems falling under their control.

"Don't know. We may have to open another front if we want to slow the Separatists down. Maybe in the East towards Ruusan" King replied. Opening another front that would put some of the key Separatist worlds in danger would force them slow their advances on other fronts.

"Well, let's hope the General gets back soon so we can decide what to do." Fox stated. He was getting tired of just sitting around, not doing anything.

 **Ilum**

Naruto yawned as he opened his eyes and sat up from his chair on the bridge to make sure everything was fine. As he was going through the motions, he noticed one of the panels blinking. Raising an eyebrow, he walked up to it and pressed a few buttons before he quickly frowned.

 _"That's one big ice storm."_ Naruto thought to himself as he grew a bit concerned. If that storm hit then while they were on ground, they would be trapped on the planet for quite a bit, and he was not going to let that happen. Nodding to himself, he lazily hurried out of the ship, still half asleep, and into the cave where he found Siri waiting.

"What's wrong?" She questioned him, confused why he was in such a rush.

"There's an ice storm coming soon. We better make sure those younglings get out soon otherwise we'll all be trapped." Naruto responded as Siri chuckled.

"You worry too much. They'll get out in time, you'll see." She calmed him as Naruto slightly frowned but nodded. Maybe he was worrying too much? Then again, Ahsoka was in that cave as well and after thinking about it he chuckled to himself.

 _"Yeah…no need to worry."_ He thought. Most Jedi made it out of the cave without anything serious happening. Even the ones who get trapped usually figure out that it's easy enough to break through the relatively thin ice blocking the door. The light show and the threat of being trapped is just a big spectacle. He was probably concerned over nothing, the storm was almost an hour away.

 **Crystal Caves, Ilum**

Ahsoka had been searching the cavern for at least thirty minutes. She hadn't come across a single viable crystal since that orange one - which she was definitely going to figure out some way to murder, despite it being an inanimate object.

Ahsoka descended deeper and deeper into the cave. She suspected that no one had ventured down this path in quite some time, as it was completely undisturbed. The snow was still perfectly level and there were gigantic icicles hanging from overhead that she had to dislodge to clear the narrow path ahead. Reaching the a large cavern, Ahsoka saw a blue light glowing in the distance, but it was a very dark blue. Not the blue of your typical lightsaber, so it probably wasn't a crystal. Ahsoka suddenly felt the world around her shift, but nothing had changed physically. She just felt extremely off balance all of a sudden and couldn't keep her footing on the slick ice.

Ahsoka groan again. She had had one too many impacts with the ground today. She looked up to see the dark blue light had gotten very close. She leaned up into a sitting position to get a better view when the icy fog around it began to sift and swivel into yet another vision, but unlike the previous two this phantasm formulated into someone she recognized. It was Naruto, and he was dueling someone. The two were both using Form V, but the other was clearly a master level practitioner of the Djem So variant.

 _"But who?"_ She thought as her eyes widened, seeing that it was a blue lightsaber, which made her shiver. Why would Naruto be fighting against another Jedi? Her eyes widened as she recognized who it was! It was the highly publicized "Hero With No Fear", and the only Jedi in the galaxy as famous as Naruto, Anakin Skywalker. This again begged the question: Why was Naruto fighting Skywalker? Ahsoka watched the two duel each other masterfully for a few moments. Naruto dodged a heavy swing from Skywalker and moved in for the kill, surprising Ahsoka. She had figured that the two were maybe only having a training match, but this was clearly a battle to the death. Ahsoka was certain that Skywalker was going to be struck down when another Jedi intervened. This time it was Naruto's own Master, Plo Koon!

 _"What's going on?!"_ The first one's Ahsoka figured were nonsensical episodes, but this head trip was taking her to places she didn't understand. She knew Naruto and Anakin weren't exactly friends - more like bitter rivals - but Naruto trying to kill his former master? No way, that wasn't any Naruto she knew. Then the iconic purple blade held by Master Windu move into attack, and the blades of dozens of other Jedi started swarming the blond. She could hear the malevolent laughter of someone in the distance. No, it was more of a cackle. It didn't matter what she could subjectively call it, but it definitely sounded sick and twisted, and oh so satisfied. She shook her head only to open her eyes and find Naruto fighting off a sole Jedi who managed to nick him in the back of his shoulder, the hooded figure was holding her green lightsaber in reverse grip Shien. She recognized it because she had been training for years to learn it herself. Ahsoka walked closer and was horrified to find who was wielding it. An orange-skinned Togruta with alternative white and blue headtails.

"M-Me?" She muttered to herself as she sprinted towards herself. Reaching out, Ahsoka dared to sacrifice her hand to stop herself from cutting down her best friend and mentor. What she instead had gripped onto was not a searing hot lightsaber blade, but a somewhat warm solid object. Opening her eyes, Ahsoka saw that she was gripping a crystal, a green crystal the same color as the blade she was wielding in her most recent vision. It did not reject her as the orange one had, and it was definitely the right size. But more so than that, Ahsoka could feel the crystal calling to her, begging her to take it. This had to be it, the crystal that she would use to build her sabe and...kill Naruto with?

Ahsoka dismissed these thoughts with a shake of her head. She would never hurt Naruto, it was probably . She pulled gently on the crystal to find it separate easily from the wall of the cave. She turned and began to look for a way out. She had already been in here too long, she would have to run back if she wanted to make it through the entrance.

 _"But what were those visions? They felt so real."_ She thought. She would have to talk to Naruto about them when she got the chance. Perhaps he could shed some light on what she saw? As she began to maker her way out, following the only path forward, she saw a light in the darkness, following it, she could hear footsteps and voices. Its was the other younglings. She broke into a sprint as she noticed that the light was beginning to fade, most likely because of the ice freezing over the door.

 _"Made it."_ She said to herself as she slides underneath the ice as it was closing. Sighing, she saw everyone already else showing off their crystals.

"About time you made it out. You're the last one, slowpoke." She heard Siri call her out as she grinned. She never was one for being punctual.

 **Aboard the** _ **Crucible**_

"Finally…" Naruto shivered as the Padawans boarded the ship. They had finally retrieved their crystals and Naruto was finally glad that they could leave this cold and miserable planet and finally head back to the frontlines, where the war was raging on.

"You know, you were just like them once." Siri spoke up as Naruto looked at her as if he was betrayed.

"What?! How in the hell was I like them?" Naruto shouted, wondering what she meant by that. They were in their all in their early teens. He was just over eleven when he was promoted.

"Let's see... You were short, a bit chubby, and... oh, yes! Always a troublemaker, and always taking forever to do things. Need I go on?" Siri questioned coyly causing Naruto to pout.

"At least I know how to properly use a lightsaber." Naruto shot back as Siri chuckled at his response, not wanting to remind Naruto that lightsaber training was his worst field as a Youngling. but sighed towards the end as she looked out from the view port as the ship began to ascend.

"Don't you miss those days?" She questioned him, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Naruto questioned, not sure what she meant by that.

"You know, back when there was no war. When you would prank the Masters and other Jedi and have the guards chase you around the whole Temple. Back during the simpler times…" She answered, going quite after that as Naruto slowly nodded.

"Of course I miss the peace, but every obstacle I've faced was during some sort of conflict. I feel most at home out in the field. But this war will be over soon, Siri. I can promise you that." Naruto stated as Siri smiled. She remembered how different he was after coming back from Mandalore. He was a little more jaded and a lot more critical of himself for letting the Fox inside take over.

"We better make sure that the Padawans don't screw up making their sabers and blow us all to hell." Naruto spoke up as Siri chuckled.

"Like how you messed up when you made your first saber?" Siri teased him once more as he blushed in embarrassment.

"That power cell was faulty!" Naruto stated as Siri shook her head.

"Whatever helps you sleep better at night, smokescreen." She stated as Naruto was about to accept defeat when a sinister idea came to his mind as he smirked. Siri paled. He wouldn't.

"Oh? Like how Ross helps you sleep at night." Naruto replied, cheekily.

He would. He did.

"W-What?! It is _**not**_ like that!" Siri raised her voice in turn. She and Ross were not in a relationship!

"What I saw in the hospital room says otherwise. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I saw him squeezing your butt. You guys were smoochin' up a storm, weren't you?" Naruto replied with a chuckle as Siri reddened and shook in anger. It was a complete fabrication, but Naruto teased her with the idea it anyways.

" _ **Nothing! Happened!**_ Not - yet, anyways..." Siri proclaimed truthfully. Nothing had happened between them... yet. The future was always open to possibilities.

"Oh? Not yet, huh? So you guys were planning to get it on until I walked in, huh? Damn, if only I could've walked in on that. Would've been a lot funnier to tease you with." Naruto's verbal attack was a confirmed kill, and Siri remained silent in defeat. If Naruto was keeping score correctly, and he definitely was, he was ahead by more than twenty points. His mouth had to be the smartest in the galaxy by now.

 _"I am so going to kill Ross when we get back on Coruscant."_ Siri thought as she plotted on how to make Ross pay, after their so-called date of course.

"Everyone's on board, right?" Naruto interrupted. Siri replied with a nod. "Then what are we still doing on this ball of frozen hell? Take us out before that storm gets any closer." Naruto said with a shiver.

"Aye aye, Captain." Siri said mockingly. The shuttle began to lift off the ground and broke through Ilum's icy atmosphere. Soon after, Siri plotted in their return course and sent the ship into lightspeed.

Now that they were back on their ship, the would-be Padawans wasted no time in starting to construct their lightsabers while Siri and Naruto over saw the whole process. Ahsoka focused like she had practiced, but as Naruto predicted, making a lightsaber with the crystal was much more difficult. She was quite focused as she was slightly sweating.

After what seemed like eternity, Ahsoka had finally completed her saber. Opening her eyes, she smiled as she grabbed her lightsaber and activated the green blade.

"Good job brat, you finally did it." Naruto ruffled her hair as she pouted, trying to swat away his hand. However, she then quickly realized what she had wanted to him about.

"By the way, Naru- I mean, Master Naruto." Ahsoka corrected herself. She had grown accustomed to her calling him the nickname in private, but with others she preferred to give him the proper respect. Naruto was thankful for her maturity.

"What's up, 'Soka?" He did not, however, return the favor. And he was as immature as ever.

"I had a few visions in the cave. I was wondering if maybe I could talk to you about them?" Ahsoka requested. Naruto was a little confused.

"I mean, sure you can, but why talk to me about them?" he asked. Ahsoka opened her mouth to speak but stopped as the ship suddenly lurched forward, sending just about everyone to the floor. Naruto managed to balance himself with his chakra and a few of the younglings had a table to lean on.

"What was that?" Siri questioned, her mood turning serious.

"I think we must have come too close to a gravity well and got pulled out of hyperspace." Naruto theorized.

"Impossible, there's literally nothing along this route. No planets or black holes or anything." Siri grunted as the ship shook once again, less violently this time. The two Masters shared a glance and Siri sense Naruto's feelings. Something was up.

"Let's head to the bridge. Everyone else stay here." Naruto suggested as Siri nodded, the two of them becoming serious. Their instincts that they had gained over the war taking over. Arriving quickly at the bridge, their eyes widened. Right before them was a Providence-class and two Munificent frigates.

"CIS ships?! How in the hell did they pull us out of hyperspace?" Naruto shouted in disbelief

"This cruiser is over a thousand years old, it probably hasn't had its null-quantum field generators upgraded. Not that hard to do when you're working against ancient tech." Siri pointed out. Most ships nowadays had modern NQLGs that could ignore the interdiction technology that had been developed during the Mandalorian Wars. Apparently not this one.

"Well then how in the hell did they find out about our route?!" Naruto shouted in frustration as the ship was rocked again and the power failed, the emergency backup came on shortly after. He didn't have time to think about that now, the first priority was survival.

"Our escort!" Siri shouted, pointing at their small CR90 escort which was being devastated by the Providence cruiser, only managing to get a few quick hits in before its guns went offline. Naruto spat with his disgruntled sigh. There was no way they could win against these odds. They had no fighter support, and the CR90 was breaking apart. only ones capable of fighting were him and Siri.

"We have to escape, now." Naruto stated as Siri quickly got to the navigation computer but shook her head. Naruto reached for the intercom system and spoke to the entire ship. "I need everyone to remain calm and listen carefully. Separatist forces have intercepted our route. Everyone make your way to the shuttle dock and be ready to leave, immediately." Naruto ordered. The shuttle wasn't meant for twenty people and a droid. Even if most of them were kids, it would be a tight squeeze.

"Get ready for a fight. Boarding ships incoming." Siri warned him as Naruto nodded. Naruto activated the distress signal and the two started running to where the Padawans would be.

"Do you think your distress signal got through?" Siri questioned Naruto as they ran. Maybe they could get a message through?

"If the Separatist have disabled our hyperdrive and caught us in a tractor beam, then our communications are probably also being jammed. One of those munificent frigates wasn't firing, so it probably has all of its power diverted to an interdiction field and communications interception. It was just a hail mary. It might have gotten through or it might not have." Naruto responded.

"What's the plan, Naru?" He was broken out of his thoughts by Ahsoka being followed by a handful of younglings, all the ones that had finished their lightsabers. He and Siri skidded to a halt realizing that these kids had chosen to meet up with him rather than escape. looked up to see everyone staring at him, as if he had a plan of some sorts. He looked back in complete disbelief

"First of all, whatever plan I come up with doesn't involve you. None of you are fighting. I want you and the other younglings to hide, got it?" Naruto stated as most of the younglings groan in disapproval and Ahsoka frowned.

"Naruto, we can fight! We're Padawans now!" Ahsoka argued as Naruto shook his head.

"No you're not, you're not a Padawan until you're given a Master, and even then you're still green. This is a real battle Ahsoka, not training. These droids _**will not**_ hesitate to kill you. They're not practice remotes." Naruto was silently begging her to see reason.

"We're going to fight, like it or not!" Ahsoka stated defiantly, not budging on her stance as Naruto looked at her with a frown. He was trying to think of how he could knock them all out at the same time. Siri looked between Naruto and the group of younglings and sighed.

"Okay, fine. You can fight. But at the first sign of danger, you're all going to retreat. Got it?" Siri stated as the younglings rejoiced while Naruto looked at her, betrayed.

"You can't be serious! They're only kids!" Naruto shouted. Siri only shook her head as she pointed at him.

"You were only a kid when you went off to fight in a war. How do you think I felt when you bordered that shuttle to Mandalore?" Siri questioned him, causing Naruto to stop, realizing how Siri must have felt about a situation she had not control over all those years ago.

"Alright, fine. But only against the basic droids. If bounty hunters, one of Dooku's acolytes, or even so much as a damn droideka decides to show their face, you're all going right to the shuttle." Naruto ordered, somewhat satisfied with this compromise, as he turned to face the boarding parties that were sure to come. Siri followed after him, knowing not to push him any further. Ahsoka meanwhile turned to her fellow Padawans.

"Alright, here's the plan…" She started, laying out their plan in supporting the two Jedi. It was time to put Naruto's lessons in tactics to good use.

 **Onboard the** _ **Usurper**_

"General, their escort has been destroyed." A Droid reported as coughing could be heard before a guttural mechanical laughter rang out through the bridge.

"Good, prepare a boarding party." The voice of one General Grievous ordered as the Droid nodded and started to press a few buttons. He was eager to add so many sabers to his collection so easily. However, before Grievous could leave, a hologram appeared.

"My lord." Grievous slightly bowed his head to Sidious.

 _"What is the status of the mission General?"_ Sidious questioned, not wanting to be displeased. Grievous looked up, chuckling slightly.

"The Jedi's escort has been destroyed and their ship's engines are disabled. They will all be dead soon." Grievous reported, eager to battle that blond Jedi once more to prove he was superior. Sidious let a grin grace his visible face before he suppressed it.

 _"Do not grow overconfident, General. Uzumaki is not to be underestimated. He is an opponent easily on the level of Darth Tyrannus. I hope you fare better than he did."_ Sidious warned as the transmission ended. Grievous growled slightly as he turned and left, heading to the hanger bay to execute his mission. He would not fail like Dooku and Ventress, and he had no reservations about this battle.

Uzumaki had cost him an arm on Bestine and one of his favorite lightsabers on Giju, and he knew there needed to be a backup plan. Although the blond had yet to succeed in defeating him, Uzumaki was still a threat. That's why he chose to board the ship from afar rather than pull it in with a tractor beam. The cruiser could keep its guns locked onto it in case he needed to make a hasty escape. The cyborg General waited impatiently in his boarding craft. He elected to soften up their resistance with a few platoons of droids first...

 **With Naruto and Siri**

The two had arrived just in time at the Separatist's makeshift airlock to see Droids piling out of their transport. Igniting their sabers, they quickly engaged the Droids, cutting past the first wave before quickly having to go on the defensive and defend from the onslaught. Behind them were the fresh Padawans, backing them up as the more experienced ones stayed in the front, deflecting the blaster fire while the less experienced one stayed in the back, waiting to enact Ahsoka's plan.

"Hold the line!" Naruto shouted as he more and more Droid kept on marching onto the ship as more boarding pods came and left.

"We've got supers!" Siri commented as she saw B2 Supers marching up. She gasped in pain as she felt the still healing wound on her leg disagree with her, but she powered through it. The Droids were at this point starting to become greater in number.

 _"I can't work well in this enclosed hall."_ Naruto thought to himself as he kept deflecting with Form V Shien. He could push forward, but even he would get overwhelmed in the small corridors.

"Fall back to the lounge!" Naruto shouted as the younglings started to fall back followed by Naruto and Siri with the Droids right behind them. Once they had left the corridor for the lounge, Grievous finally bordered the ship, coughing.

"Secure the ship. Chase after Uzumaki and the children." Grievous ordered as the Droids started to fan out. Due to the nature of the ship, the engine room would be taken first as the Droids pushed further in with Grievous right behind them. Naruto meanwhile was defending the lounge with the rest of the younglings with Siri right beside him and he was not having a fun time.

"We can barricade the lounge room to slow them down!" One of the younglings voiced their opinion, but Naruto shook his head.

"No, that's too risky. They're already right on our asses." Naruto stated, shooting down that idea. The youngling wasn't listening though, and he began to drag a large crate towards the doorway. Then the Droids started to cut through the side doors of the lounge as they had been stuck jammed by Naruto and what came next was something he could not prevent.

"No!" He shouted as he saw the youngling brutally gunned down by a squad of Droids. Everything felt like a blur to him as he looked at the fallen youngling. Naruto felt a surge of red power well up within him, but he suppressed it. Now was not the time to lose his cool.

"Naruto! We have to fall back again!" Siri pulled him out of his trance, but he was not as responsive as before. "Retreat to the storage room!" She ordered as the younglings began to head towards the bridge. Siri pulled Naruto behind some crates to use as makeshift cover as the Droids focused more on them. "Talk to me, Naruto. We may have lost one, but we have a duty to protect the rest!" She stated as Naruto nodded. "Everyone get back, make your way to the shuttle dock. Get on board the ship."

"No, we can't do that right now. We're running out of places to fall back to. We actually have to advance here, otherwise they will reach the shuttle before we can even take off. Come on, you brats, lets deal with these Droids." Naruto offered Siri a hand. She took it and Naruto flung his sister over the crates they were using as cover as Naruto and the Padawans emerged from their cover and began to cut down wave after wave of Droids. Naruto grunted as he sliced through yet another B2. After cutting a few dozen Droids, they finally stopped as the two sighed. They knew that more where going to come, but they couldn't do anything but wait. Turning his attention away from the Droids, he looked towards the Jedi younglings and again quelled his feelings when he saw that another had fallen.

"There was nothing we could have done differently." Siri comforted him as Naruto could only stare at the fallen youngling. If the Separatists hadn't blown them into small pieces, then that meant that they still wanted something.

 _"This all but confirms it. Republic High Command is compromised."_ Naruto thought as the two made their way to their shuttle. He wasn't sure at first, but now he was almost certain. Something was up. This attack was no coincidence. They knew exactly where and when to be. A traitor, somewhere high up in the chain of command feeding information to the Separatist. After a quick jog, Naruto saw the younglings, led by Ahsoka, ready for battle, but they were clearly shaken from the death of their fellow comrade.

"The Droids have stopped their advance for now. I want you all to be vigilant." Was all Naruto had to say as he squeezed past them and towards the controls in an attempt to get a signal through.

"Well?" Siri questioned as Naruto shook his head.

"No use. We're completely jammed. I've activated distress beacon on the shuttle as well, but that frigate is doing its job. I wouldn't dare launch at this distance, we'll be blown to bits in an instant." Naruto answered with a sigh as he stood up and walked off the shuttle. He began formulating a plan.

"If we can get to the engine room we might be able to reactivate the sublight thrusters and get far enough away to escape the effective range of their turbolasers." Siri and a few of the braver younglings had followed him outside, intent on following him. Naruto turned with a smirk around only for his eyes to widen.

"Get down!" He shouted as he ignited his saber and quickly leapt over the younglings to land just behind them and block the incoming strike.

"I must admit, you have proven to be quite the challenge." The mechanical voice Grievous cause Naruto to snarl as he pushed the cyborg General back.

"So you finally show yourself after your Droids failed? What makes you think you'll do any better, scrapheap?" Naruto questioned the Separatist General as he was joined by Siri, ready to strike at any moment. Grievous chuckled at the blond as he pulled out a saber, the freshly crafted saber of the fallen youngling.

"It would seem that my Droids didn't fail completely." He responded as Naruto tightened his hold on his saber, trying to contain his anger.

"You're going to pay for that, Grievous." Naruto proclaimed as he charged forward, ready to deliver a powerful strike that would have seriously hurt the wrist of anyone that tried to block it, but Grievous wasn't just anyone. With effortless ease, Grievous blocked the strike, his metal claw like feet holding him steady from blows that would've staggered anyone else to the ground.

"Now it's my turn." Grievous spoke as he ignited a second saber, bringing it down on the blond, but Siri quickly reacted, blocking the strike before she repositioned to block Grievous' reflex attack.

"Hey now, don't go forgetting about player three. My turn, rusty." Siri took her place at Naruto's side and swung her saber with an almost malicious grace. She was upset about the fallen younglings, too. Grievous ramped up the pace of his strikes and Naruto sped up in return, driving Grievous out of the docking area with his offensive. Siri had trouble keeping up with the two inhuman speedsters, but she managed to get her strikes in capably enough to interfere with Grievous' defense against Naruto.

"Enough of this!" Grievous growled as he charged at Siri with a powerful backhand, knocking her into the wall. Naruto moved to cover her, but he was suddenly grabbed by one of the General's mechanical feet and thrown across the supply room into a stack of crates that were riddled with blast marks. The cyborg charged the blond Jedi to finish him off, but he was cut off as Ahsoka and the other younglings stood in his path.

"You're not getting through us." Ahsoka said confidently. This caused Grievous to chuckle before he started to laugh.

"Do you really think a child like you can defeat me?" Grievous questioned rhetorically as he noticed the only other adult onboard surround him with the other younglings.

"I _**know**_ I can." Siri stated as she charged him, but like with Naruto, her strike was blocked as Ahsoka attacked him from the other side, but Grievous was ready for that as well as he blocked it.

"Now!" Ahsoka shouted as six other younglings leapt into action, thinking that Grievous was vulnerable, but Siri knew better, and she tried to warn them, but it was too late. Grievous revealed his other two arms and grabbed lightsabers from his magnetic hips, instantly blocking all of the strikes as he laughed at their feeble attempt to surround and strike him down.

"Foolish children!" He stated as he quickly used his two arms to disarm and strike at the younglings, while fighting off Siri and Ahsoka. The younglings stood no chance against the Jedi-hunting cyborg as he swiftly cut four of them down with ease. Ahsoka and two others managed to block the strikes but were still thrown to the ground by the power behind them. Naruto had gotten back on his feet and his anger again welled up at the sight, and it made itself known as he unleashed a furious attack.

"I told you not to engage anything except the standard droids. This is way out of your pay grade. Get out of here before I lose more of you!" Naruto was panting as he ordered Ahsoka to get the survivors onto the ship. It would be certain death if they fought Grievous. By this time, Siri had rejoined the fray and the status quo resumed for a few moments. Naruto attacked Grievous, Grievous blocked Naruto. Siri attacked Grievous, Grievous defended against Siri, and attacked Naruto, who blocked his strikes and counterattacked immediately. Grievous was slowly being pressured. Every moment wasted blocking Siri was an opportunity Naruto exploited, and Grievous was feeling endangered.

 _"The unorthodox isn't working. I've gotta go faster."_ Naruto thought as he started to focus less on unpredictability and more on speed. He had been using his personal variant of Form IV the entire fight, trying to get an edge on Grievous, but unlike any other combatant, Grievous could not tire. The cyborg general was at least having trouble matching the sheer number of strikes. And the speed at which they were coming wasn't something he could brush off either.

 _"I should thank the Count for his training."_ Grievous thought as he dodged and blocked the onslaught from the two Masters. The Droid general had received some small cuts along his armor, but nothing serious. However, his defenses slipped slightly as Siri managed to destroy one of the sabers that Grievous was wielding.

"I'll be taking your saber as compensation, Jedi scum!" Grievous shouted as he started to go on the offensive, taking the younglings freshly crafted saber to replace his destroyed one. Naruto desperately raised his saber in defense. Siri noticed that Naruto was beginning to wear out. She picked up her pace to compensate and she managed to almost land another hit, but she was knocked back by an abrasive kick from Grievous, who turned his focus back onto Naruto. The two were completely even one-on-one, but there was one distinction between the two. Grievous wasn't tiring from Naruto's offense, but Naruto was, and it showed. The Jedi General was soaked in sweat and his muscles were beginning to cramp.

 _"I can't keep this up for much longer. I'm reaching my limit."_ He thought to himself as Grievous started to ramp up his own attacks in response to this new development. Naruto made a risky move in ducking under the blow, but it paid off and he managed to destroy another of Grievous' lightsabers. He had no more backups, but Naruto also had no more stamina. His vision started to blacken around the edges, he was certain he was going to pass out when Siri jumped back in once more, blocking all of the cyborg's attacks.

"I'll hold him off, gather your strength in the meantime. You have one minute." Siri offered as she deflected some strikes from Grievous. Naruto couldn't even muster the strength to nod as he backed up a bit and sat on a ruined crate, trying to get his strength back. He had to remain alert in case Grievous tried a surprise attack.

Meanwhile, Siri was dueling the general, who growled at her attempts to stall him. She wasn't nearly as capable an opponent as Uzumaki, but she was proving quite the obstacle.

 _"Damn this leg of mine."_ Siri winced in pain as the wound on her foot started to act up in response to the high amount of stress, but she kept alert and deflected what attacks she could.. Grievous laughed as he kept on sending strike after strike, each one pushing Siri to the limit as her wound was getting worse.

"I've got you!" Naruto shouted as he sprang into action, reinforcing her defense. Siri smiled as the two started to tag team Grievous once more, pushing him back bit by bit. The cyborg growled. With only three blades, this was proving to be not just dangerous, but life-threatening.

"Urgh!" Grievous shouted in rage as one of his hands was cut off, the metal melting thanks to the lightsaber. Again? This was the second time that he had lost that limb. Both to Uzumaki! Nonetheless, this proved to be a monumental issue. He was barely holding them off with three blades, and now he could only hold two. Grievous blocked the next two strikes from Naruto with his recombined left hand, but that left him unable to counter Siri's offense. Sensing defeat, Grievous improvised and threw his severed bottom right arm forward in a desperate strike.

Naruto pressed his attack as he heard Siri grunt in pain. Damn this Grievous, he'd killed far too many younglings in this raid already, and now he was causing more pain. This time to his sister. The person he cared about most. He felt his anger boil up inside and suddenly he struck true and a piece of Grievous' shoulder chassis was severed, that's when Naruto heard a familiar voice. But it was pained... struggling... _**gurgling**_. Naruto turned over to the source when he saw Siri slumped over Grievous arm. Naruto froze when he was brought back into to reality.

"I-I...I love you... little brother..."

Naruto was speechless at the sight. Grievous' lower left arm had found its way into...no, through Siri's abdomen. The still molten limb has pierced all the way through her body, and she collapsed into her impaler's shoulder. Blood was spraying from everywhere that hadn't been instantly cauterized by the red-hot metal. Naruto threw all sense of control out the window and immediately threw every ounce of power he had at Grievous, the Force sending the cyborg careening through the air uncontrollably. Naruto dashed over to catch the falling Siri and held her limp body close.

Her eyes were glazed over. He couldn't feel a heartbeat.

Naruto just sat there, on his knees. His thoughts ground to a halt and were replaced by a melancholy feeling. A feeling as if his world was being shattered into a thousand pieces.

"At last, I managed to get one of you scum. This battle is over, Jedi bastard." Grievous spoke up, having recovered from being thrown so far back and hard by the blond. He examined his wounds. Any closer and the blond might have struck his internal organs. Naruto continued to stare at Siri's body - at her _**corpse**_ \- cradled in his arms. He couldn't believe what was happening. No, this couldn't be true.

But it was true...

Siri Tachi was dead.

 _"Her beautiful face…"_ He thought as he gripped his saber tightly. He had failed, again. He had failed to keep his promise to the one person he cared for the most.

 _"W-What is this?!"_ Grievous thought frantically as he felt a great amount of dread, his mind telling him to run. Looking down at the blond Jedi, he saw some sort of red energy starting to bubble out of the blond Jedi.

Naruto collapsed to the ground his hair covering his face, but his whisker marks were noticeably darkened, his nails grew longer and thicker as his sabers color started to flicker from the usually to a yellowish red.

Naruto's head tilted upwards to reveal red rimmed orbs of molten gold, the pupils slitted similar to Grievous own, but his were natural. These were... malevolent. Naruto's held so much pain, sadness, and an untold amount of rage.

The blond Jedi roared in his unbearable pain as the bubbling red bloodlust finally overtook him.

 **Jedi Temple, Coruscant**

Master Yoda was meditating in his chambers when his eyes slowly opened wide. He felt a sudden, powerful surge in the Force, from the Dark Side, one he had felt long ago. He began reaching out to find the source, but his sight was too clouded. He didn't know how long he had tried, but it was long enough that he didn't notice the doors to his chamber had opened, and Mace Windu was standing there with an identical inquisitive a look on his face. But there was also a bead of sweat dripping from his forehead.

"You felt it too, didn't you?" Windu questioned him as Yoda nodded.

"Felt it, most definitely, I did." Yoda replied as Windu had a look of concern. "Know this rage, we both do." Yoda reminded and Windu stared back at him. This was exactly the rage they felt when Naruto had used the Fox's energy on Mandalore, but the last time it was more subdued. This time, it was far, _**far**_ greater.

 **Chancellor's Office, Coruscant**

Palpatine was enjoying a pleasant day in his office, a smile present on his face as he knew that all his troubles would be taken care of soon. However, his eyes shot open as he gasped for air.

 _"What is this energy?"_ Sidious thought as he looked around the room, somewhat paranoid, as if he was going to be struck down by the Force. Thankfully, no one was in the room to witness his odd behaviors. The amount of Dark Side energy emitted from this unknown source was suffocating.

He _**desperately**_ wanted...whatever this was.

 **Well, there you have it folks. The first (I think) twist in the story! Now, some of you from like chapter 4? Say this coming for such a long time, others who did not, well, it was all building up to it. Now the story is going to shift, a lot. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter that me and my Beta writer/reader worked on! Bye!**


	23. Broken Hearts and Broken Dreams

**Oh god! Finally we are done with this chapter! You people have no idea how hard this chapter was and the fact that we were both sick while writing it…at one point I didn't even know what I wrote! Anyways, here is the next chapter! Chapter 24 will most likely be released in May cause me and Digman14 both need to get better. Without further ranting here is the next chapter.**

 **One Week Later**

Naruto didn't know how many days had passed; he didn't even know what time it was. No outside light breached the walls of his holding cell. Frankly, he didn't care anymore. His mind had been stuck replaying what had happened over and over again. His broken heart felt like it had been sucked from him, leaving nothing but a hollow feeling behind. He had lost the person he cared about the most, his only family.

There were no words spoken, either aloud or in his mind's eye. His reddened eyelids burned and cracked from the result of his endless well of tears that had since run dry, and his skin had been left rash and blistered in the aftermath of the cascading corrosive chakra. His rage had subsided, but the anger and pain hadn't left with it. Siri was gone and he had failed to save her. He failed to stop Grievous. Naruto was so lost in his thoughts that he failed to notice the door opening. He briefly wondered what next would be asked by his captors.

"Naruto Uzumaki..." He heard the voice of Palpatine, the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. His words were terse and laden with disdain and disappointment. Looking up, the blond Jedi saw the Chancellor. Along with a handful of other Senators, court officials, and a cadre of military police. Naruto didn't say anything, he simply looked back down towards the floor. There was nothing to say. Having overhead the guards, he already knew the fate that awaited him. He was somewhat surprised that the Chancellor had come himself to a holding cell.

"Normally this would be done at an arraignment in court, but you have been deemed too dangerous to transport. So we've brought a constable here to charge you personally." Palpatine continued before stepping aside to let the legal speakers begin their misguided diatribe.

"General Naruto Uzumaki, you are being charged for espionage and treason against the Galactic Republic. As well as multiple counts of murder in the first degree as a result of your actions. You will be..." the constable droned on, but Naruto had very quickly tuned him out. Not the least bit interested into hearing more of this farce. To the side, Palpatine could barely contain his glee. He passed it off as a look of revulsion to his vigilant entourage. But he didn't know how much longer he would be able to control himself standing in front of his defeated foe. Finally, would he be rid of this blond nuisance. "Do you understand these charges as they have been explained to you?" The constable had finished his tirade and Palpatine stepped forward once more, placing a hand on the man's shoulder and shaking his head. He knew that Naruto felt so defeated right now that he wouldn't speak a word, so Palpatine took the opportunity to gloat. Indirectly, at least.

"I'll admit it was a clever move, activating your ship's distress beacon to signal your location to the Separatists. Ingenious planning to use interdiction technology on an old ship. The evidence gathered from the destroyed Separatist cruiser backs it up. Your entire dialogue with Grievous was recorded in the ship's communication log." Palpatine began to weave the web of lies even tighter. The transmissions had been faked, of course. Bits and pieces of dialogue picked up from military comms, intercepted personal messages, altered recordings of his meetings with the Chancellor, and of course some good acting from Grievous and Dooku. Naruto desperately wanted to reach out with the Force and wring the life out of the Chancellor's neck, but the second he tried anything a shock would be sent through his restraints to subdue him.

"Don't you have anything to say in your defense?" Palpatine questioned, still playing his façade of a kind old man, appearing as a voice of reason, albeit angered and short tempered by the apparent betrayal. Naruto, however, still said nothing. He knew that everything was working against him. Somebody very powerful wanted him gone or dead, somebody high up the chain of command. And if High Command was compromised, who was to say that the Senate wasn't as Dooku had proclaimed?

Naruto wasn't the brightest bulb, but he wasn't inattentive. He had read Obi-Wan's report that recited word for word Dooku's accusation that his Master had infiltrated the Senate. He had initially disregarded it a grandiose bluster, but now he was beginning to see potential truth in that matter. So he chose to keep his mouth shut, the courts would have a field day with anything he said, but part of him was just wanted to admit to these false accusations just to stop hearing the lies about Siri. He wondered if they would execute him sooner if he plead guilty, but he still remained silent.

"Then your trial will begin tomorrow." Palpatine stated as Naruto failed to respond. With everything said and done, Palpatine and his group turned and left, leaving Naruto in the darkness once more.

 _"This is all my fault…"_ He thought as he thought back to everything that had happened.

 **Onboard the** _ **Crucible**_ **, One Week Earlier**

The roar of a beast echoed throughout the ship as Grievous slowly backed away. Not because he was fearful, but because he was being forcefully pushed back. The sheer power flowing from the blond was enough to make Sidious look like a puddle of water.

 _"What is this?!"_ Grievous thought as witnessed the blond Jedi started to transform. His skin started to peel away as a red energy started to cover him as a tail started to grow, then another. Before Grievous knew it there were three tails that had grown out of the blond, his eyes looked like a twisted reflection of his own, and his mouth had grown long fangs. The red cloud completely covered him and that is when the transformed Jedi charged Grievous, who's eyes widened at the speed. He didn't even get the chance to raise his sabers as the blond literally punched him right in the chest, denting his chassis and sending him flying into the. Grievous went into a furious coughing spree as he wheezed and sputtered his way to his feet.

Grievous rushed Naruto with his two remaining blades, on the way to his target, he picked up a third with his foot and ignited the violet saber, striking fiercely at greatest speed he could manage. The enraged Naruto roared louder in response to this offense. He began ducking and dodging between each blow, having little trouble avoiding Grievous' lightning fast attacks. Calling his discarded blue saber back to him, Naruto struck a single mighty blow in between Grievous' sabers. The impact tore at the mechanical joints, damaging them. Grievous felt his speed slow as the servos began to wear down as a result of the change in structure and load.

Grievous kept up his offensive as best he could, but it was no use. Naruto was slowly inching his way forward. Grievous' blades were batted away, and his chassis kept getting newer and deeper scratches in it. Grievous knew that this, whatever it was, had turned the tables in the blond's favor. Even with three lightsabers, he found himself outmatched against Naruto's renewed vigor, and seemingly limitless strength.

 _"I have to escape!"_ Grievous thought to himself frantically as he tried to disengage from the duel, but he was grabbed and yanked back forcefully by a giant claw of red energy and thrown into the ground. Turning onto his back, he came face-to-face against the red monster who roared and brought his clawed hands down and started to tear through Grievous exoskeleton. The injured Droid General tried to block the Jedi's wrath with his arms, but it was no use. Mustering his strength, Grievous leapt to his feet, flinging Naruto off him. He turned to run again but found that the Jedi's claw of energy had a hold of his arm and wouldn't let go. Grievous was willing to make a sacrifice, so he continued to pull against Naruto until the limb had been torn right of the cyborg, who cried out in pain. Grievous finally managed to amass some distance and began using his mechanical feet to sprint down the hall. He quickly reached for a transmitter on his person.

"Fire on the ship! Now!" Grievous ordered. Firing upon the ship would act as a distraction for him to use to escape. It should be able to hold out for at least a minute. He began to run, but once more he was stopped. This time he felt his throat being constricted as the was raised into the air. Turning around, he saw that the Jedi was holding him - choking him - with the Force. Like many others before him, Grievous tried to claw away at the invisible hand choking him, but it was no use as he felt his life fading. Just then the ship shook violently, throwing the Jedi to the ground and releasing Grievous who coughed, but quickly ran for the shuttle amidst his respiratory distress.

The transformed Naruto roared as he turned to look at the offender who had stopped him. He looked out of the ship to see the Providence dreadnaught opening fire on them. He roared once more as he reached out to the Force, the Dark Side feeding off of his negative emotions, the rage amplifying his power. Reaching out, he took imaginary hold of the Cruiser and literally began to make a crushing gesture with his hands.

To Grievous' surprise, his flagship began to buckle and implode as it was torn apart by the will of the Force, however, it wasn't enough. Naruto's onslaught didn't stop as he began to do the same to one of the munificent frigates. It didn't last nearly as long and the fuel tanks had ruptured, causing the ship to explode spectacularly.

"Naruto, stop!" Ahsoka, who had been observing this carnage the entire time, intervened to stop Naruto's conniption, but he ignored her as he kept rampaging through the ship, cutting through armor, wires, electric components. A couple of Padawans in his way were injured as they were thrown back, suffering some burns from the corrosive energy and they were bleeding pretty heavily from the claws of energy digging away at their flesh.

"Naruto, stop! This isn't you!" She pleaded with him, trying to get him back to his senses. He stopped for a second as he looked at her but roared with extreme ferocity and began to charge straight at her. Ahsoka quickly dived out of the way, but the other younglings weren't so nimble and were hit head on by the blond's mad rush. They were thrown about the ship and collided with many of the crates and tools strewn about, inflicting further injuries. Ahsoka definitely heard someone's bone snap from the impact.

Ahsoka tried a different, more direct approach. Instead of calling out to him, she simply stood in his path. Naruto started charging again but soon ground to a halt when she pushed him back with the Force. He began to thrash about, not liking being held down one bit. After a few seconds, his movements began to soothe and calm. Ahsoka took that as a positive signal as she slowly walked up to him.

"Come on Naruto, fight whatever has control over you. This isn't you." She reasoned as she got a bit closer to him, the red energy starting to fade.

"That's it, just calm down. It's over, you beat Grievous. He ran away." She encouraged him as she got even closer, to close as Naruto stumbled, his rage seemingly fighting back against clear-headed judgement. In the confusion, a claw of energy swatted Ahsoka away as the red energy quickly started to recede. Gasping in pain as she slammed into the wall, she checked over her wound, but it wasn't serious. Only light bleeding along her stomach, but the back of her head was killing her. She was just as grateful as she was worried that she slipped into unconsciousness a few moments later.

 **Later:**

Ashoka could tell the room spinning, even with her eyes closed.

Wait - nope. That was just her concussion talking. The room and ship were perfectly still except for the flickering power cables and dangling wall panels. Ahsoka looked around the room to see the unconscious Naruto and what looked like a makeshift triage room.

Huyang had done his best to treat the injured Padawans with the tools he had, but the ship wasn't equipped with more than basic first aid. He had to use low intensity plasma torches to close a few of the nastier wounds when he ran out of stitches. Huyang was by no means a medical droid so his work was very rough, and the younglings would probably have some very nasty scars after healing.

"What happened?" Ahsoka asked, still delirious from the her pounding head injury.

"General Grievous attacked the ship and Master Uzumaki lost control of himself when Master Tachi was killed. His rampage disabled the ship and injured everyone aboard." Huyang answered.

"I know that. I mean... d-did anyone get our distress signal?" Ahsoka questioned the old Droid, who nodded.

"A ship is dropping out of hyperspace." Huyang responded. The Separatists had quickly retreated once Grievous was aboard. The Republic had thankfully arrived less than twelve hours later as Naruto had damaged their life support systems and they would be running out of oxygen soon, and the old Droid was not equipped to help all the wounded. Ahsoka sighed as the she felt the ship shake, being taken in by the Venator's tractor beams and docked in the ventral hangar. Not much sooner did a platoon of Clones and Jedi Masters Windu, Yoda, and Adi Gallia walk in. The three Masters were all aghast at the grizzly scene before them.

"What happened here…" Windu spoke in shock. They had come across many dead Padawans and destroyed droids. They saw Ahsoka and several other Padawans wounded. They even saw molten and shredded pieces of white exoskeleton. Naruto's robes had evaporated to reveal his reddened skin, only a smoking wrap around his midsection was left to give him warmth. Adi Gallia stepped forward into the room and had to resist the urge to burst into tears.

Siri was laying dead, a large puncture wound through her stomach that looked like a lightsaber wound. Adi walked over to Siri and caressed her former padawans face. Yoda closed his eyes at the carnage. Seeing the younglings dead brought him great pain. The ship was secured quickly and the Venator made the jump back to Republic space. Adi knelt down to speak to the Togruta Padawan.

"Ahsoka. Tell us what happened." she was half asking, half demanding. Ahsoka opened her mouth to talk again, but a tremendous migraine swelled up in her head, and she drifted back into unconsciousness.

 **Jedi Council Chambers, Present Day**

When the Republic had arrived, and Naruto had awoken from his rage-induced rampage he did his best to explain the events. He reasoned that the Separatists must have placed a tracker on the ship, but no such tracker was found. Naruto tried to suggest that it must have been blown off when Grievous' cruiser opened fire on the ship, but much of what he said fell on deaf ears. He was emotionally distraught and quick to anger in his defense of Siri. His state of mind itself had been compromised and none of his former teachers and friends could get through him to get the answers they needed.

However, the situation in the Senate was much different. Sidious moved fast in the following week, using all of the political clout he had amassed over the past ten years to hasten proceedings as greatly as possible. Pinning Naruto with multiple life sentences for the first two crimes would end his career forever, however, the third crime that would result in his required execution would need a trial by the Senate. Sidious couldn't have him continuing to hypothesize and speak ill of the Republic leadership. Someone might listen eventually and that could cause problems for him. But before he was to be brought before the Senate the Jedi Order had scheduled him for an internal hearing in an effort to delay the proceedings. Palpatine relented, but he gave them limited time to deliberate. The Council was currently holding a meeting on the important matter.

"We all felt the Dark Side, it's strong in the boy. Even if it was just for a moment before, it seems like it's here to stay." Windu spoke as everyone thought over his words.

"But it's not from him, exactly. From what I can ascertain, the seal might have temporarily failed in a moment of extreme distress, allowing the spirit within him to partly take control over him." Plo Koon reasoned. Naruto had never before used the Dark Side and he was far more emotional attached then others. Still, Plo Koon though that something was wrong.

"That may be, but we cannot overlook this. What if he loses control again? With if the seal fails for good the next time. I don't think there was a Force sensitive in the galaxy that didn't sense that ripple of Dark side energy. If the beast were to somehow escape, it would be catastrophic." Mundi questioned through his hologram as Plo frowned. Those were good points that he had no counter too. The seal used was native to Naruto's home world and it was extremely complex. They had tried at times to research and investigate it but had only come up with answer to the basic purposes of its components and still lacked understanding as to how it actually worked. Not to mention it was made through Chakra so they did not have the means to strengthen it should it weaken further.

"The fact also remains that he was unable to resist its power in the first place. His connection to Master Tachi was too strong. It's possible that he gave in willingly." Saesee Tiin was ever the harsh critic of the boy. He was too young and too juvenile to be considered on the level of a Master in his opinion.

"We should have never trained him in the first place. I let my judgement be clouded when I agreed to promote him to Master. I insisted it was too soon." Rancisis was still going on his own rant of not training Naruto. He was coming around to liking the boy, but this recent event had made him revert to his old ways. Now he was fiercely against the blond, again.

"You've certainly shown us your lack of hesitation in rapidly switching sides, Master Rancisis." Shaak Ti countered rudely. Like Plo Koon, she was firmly in support of Naruto.

"Surely we can rehabilitate him somehow?" Kit Fisto questioned them. Naruto was once his student and as such he would try to keep the actions taken against him limited. He did not believe that Naruto would be capable of killing Siri, his sister in all but blood. Master Gallia herself had her doubts.

"Aren't you all sidestepping the fact that this trial is for alleged treason? We can determine if he's fallen to the Dark Side later. We should follow through on his accusations first, regardless of his potential failings." The Tholothian Jedi Master spoke. There was no way, in her mind, that Naruto would've willingly allowed Siri to be a casualty of the war.

"There is not time for this. Intent on convicting him, the Chancellor is." Yoda interjected. He did not believe that Naruto was guilty of treason, and the boy would never join Dooku. But his falling to the dark side was a primary concern that Yoda had before he had taken him from his home. But now he felt that training him could have been a mistake.

Before, Naruto was a boy with a lot of potential that would've had to discover on his own. But now Naruto was a trained Master with combat skills that put him amongst the members of the Jedi Council. Superior in combat skill to both friends and dissenters on the Council alike. He was every bit the equal to two of his former Masters - Plo and Kit Fisto - and wasn't too far behind the third - Shaak Ti.

"The Senate is also in a rush to sweep this under the rug to minimize the publicity. The irregulars are up in arms and deserting in droves. Naruto is a hero to them, and they have no one to look up to if he's imprisoned." Even Piell was somewhere in the middle with Adi Gallia. He recognized Naruto's value to the war effort... if he wasn't actually a traitor, that is.

"And I think they are wise to do so. I don't plan to stand by and let them execute him, but we can appeal his life sentence later if we find him innocent." Windu tried to sate the opposition with a middle ground, and this seemed acceptable to Shaak Ti and Kit Fisto as a temporary measure, but his biggest supporter did not take it so lightly.

"If we wait to move, it's likely that the courts will only hear an appeal on reducing his sentence, not overturning his conviction. They want this matter gone, forever. He'd get ten years instead of life for being innocent." Plo wasn't going to compromise on this. Either they would support him fully or not at all. The Kel'dor Jedi Master made it clear that the latter choice would result in the loss of not one - but two great Masters from the order. If the Order would not help his former Padawan seek justice then he would do it alone.

"Stop being a child about this, Master Plo. I urge you to see reason." Saesee Tiin's tone had begun to get out of line. This issue was going nowhere, and it was only generating tension between members of the council.

"Master Obi-wan, we shall send. Close are the two of them. The resolve of Master Uzumaki, testing, it needs." Yoda spoke up from his seat as everyone turned to him. Yoda had brought Naruto to the temple eighteen years ago; he was the one who had pushed for the boy to be trained at such an old age. No doubt the gravity of the situation fell heavy on the old Grand Master's shoulders.

His words also drew attention to the uncharacteristically quiet Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Obi-wan was very close with Naruto indeed. The two were almost brothers much like Siri had adopted Naruto as her foster brother. But these were not one-way streets and Obi-Wan was extremely close with Siri as well, to the point that they had once considered leaving the Order together, not unlike the situation with Satine. Obi-wan stroked his beard, sensing the eyes drawn upon him by the Grand Masters word's. His feelings on the matter were precarious to say the least.

Obi-Wan was deeply confused by what he was thinking. Unlike the others who were arguing that Naruto would've never let Siri get killed, Obi-Wan felt that if it was any other Jedi he would've believed Naruto' story. Not that Naruto would have let Siri get killed, but... why did it have to be Siri of all people? Why was that the factor keeping him from wholly believing Naruto?

Obi-Wan's thoughts had not stopped racing for the past week. He could not abandon his personal feelings for Siri or Naruto. He did not know what would be the subjective good, so he had to go with the objective. Perhaps that would give him clarity.

"Fine... I'll do it." Obi-Wan agreed after a few minutes of careful consideration.

"Master Plo, if we follow through with this we must know that you will concur with our decision. You cannot leave the Order to defend Naruto yourself simply because you don't like the answer we come up with." Mace Windu was again the voice of mediation, and Plo Koon nodded reluctantly.

"Fine, but I...I need to be there. I'm returning to Coruscant. Master Rancisis, will you take my place as High General on Saleucami?" The snake-like Jedi Master agreed with a nod. He would at least do his fellow Master this gratitude. Losing a student was not easy, no matter how troublesome they had been.

"This would be much easier if we could just ask the Younglings what happened." Plo had his doubts that Naruto was of the right mind to be tested. Every Jedi struggles with controlling strong emotions, and Naruto's were stronger than most. But he saw that as more and more a middle ground was carved out in their debate; Naruto was losing the support of the other Masters. This was at least a chance for him to make a case for himself.

"Were it so simple, but Grievous did a number on them. Only eight survived and none of them are in any condition to speak. Two of them are still in critical condition, it's unsure if they will survive the injuries Naruto inflicted on them in his madness." Windu retorted. That was the most distressing thing about the whole incident. That they had lost ten - perhaps eventually a dozen of the most promising initiates. Naruto had even injured Ahsoka, the Togruta girl that he had begged and harassed them for days to take on as a Padawan.

But with Plo's acceptance, everyone had agreed to Master Yoda's idea. They needed to see if Naruto did indeed have a growing connection to the dark side and they could not stall the Senate any longer.

 **Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center, the Next Day**

Obi-Wan sighed as he stood outside the cell that held his friend. He had never expected Naruto of all people to use the Dark Side, no, he didn't expect him to allow Siri to die either, yet the evidence would say otherwise. If Naruto had fallen, then just how far? This was the question on the minds of most of the Council, and Obi-Wan might be one of the only people who could bring him back if he was too far gone. Steeling himself, he entered the cell. Entering the cell, he saw Naruto, sitting in the cell, his face down looking at the ground. Obi-wan thought he could see a glimmer of hope in his friend's eyes.

"I know you're not in the mood to talk, so I'm only going to ask you this one question, and I'm only going to ask it one time. Did you kill Siri and those younglings or, through your actions, allow them to be killed?" The true reason Obi-Wan only wanted to say these words once was because they were too painful even for him.

Naruto wrenched his hands into fists. The glimmer fading as fast as it had appeared. So even Obi-Wan didn't believe him? Then that was the final straw. Of all the people he thought would accuse him, Obi-wan was the one person that Naruto had thought would know better. If Obi-Wan didn't believe him than the only one of the Council that could've possibly believed his story would've been Plo Koon, but Naruto knew that his former Master wouldn't betray the sense of justice that he and his students held firm to.

Obi-Wan waited for several minutes but his words still elicited no response from the imprisoned Jedi. So it was true, then? Obi-Wan didn't want to believe it, so despite what he had said earlier, he had to test the blond more.

"I always knew that you sympathized a bit with the Separatists. Even I think they have a bit of a point, but Dooku is a Sith, Naruto. For you to actually betray the Republic, the Order, your sister - for his cause? What happened to becoming Grand Master?!" Obi-Wan questioned him but Naruto only writhed more. It tore at his heart, but Naruto couldn't stand his words any longer. He wanted nothing more than to break free and choke Obi-Wan until he could say no more of these lies. His friend and brother was also accusing him of betrayal, Naruto's despair had quickly turned to anger, and he rose to his feet. His slow stride intimidating Obi-Wan a bit, but the Jedi Master held firm when he remembered Naruto was restrained. Naruto opened his mouth to respond, and Obi-Wan nearly lit up, but instead a wad of spit spewed forward, landing on Obi-Wan's robes as he looked down at the imprisoned Jedi. Obi-Wan sighed and removed his cloak. He would have to wash it later.

"That won't scare me away, Naruto." Obi-Wan stated as Naruto kept quiet as Obi-Wan walked closer. "The tracker, getting those Jedi younglings and Siri, what did you hope to achieve? You were the only one who knew the route you were taking, and I doubt that Siri would do something stupid enough to get herself killed." Obi-Wan questioned him further, his frustrations growing. Perhaps he wasn't the best choice after all.

"Answer me, Naruto. Why would you kill someone that was like a sister to both of us?" Obi-Wan questioned again as Naruto closed his eyes shut as tears started to form once more. He clenched his teeth as hard as he could to keep his voiced bottled up.

I didn't kill her. Stop lying.

"I guess she meant nothing to you then." Obi-Wan stated as Naruto's eyes opened wide at the accusation. How dare he…how dare they think that! She was everything to him, his world, his family. He would never harm her and yet everyone believed that he did. No one listened to him.

His anger, rage, returned once more as his body swelled with a hint of red energy and his eyes filled with slitted red rage as Kurama's power came to the surface unchecked. Obi-Wan took a step back reflexively. Seeing Naruto's eyes red eyes staring back at him with so much anger, he gulped. Kurama's power invited the dark side, and from the slitted pupils cascaded the sickly Sith yellow. Obi-Wan shivered in a mixture of fear and sadness as he quickly exited the cell. He definitely felt it, that was the full brunt of the dark side. Naruto fell back to his knees on his cell, before settling into a sitting position from his homeworld that was both formal and meditative in nature. He again managed to hold back his sorrow a third time, but he felt another weight on his shoulders. The weight of a friend's abandonment.

Obi-Wan quickly made his way to the visitors lounge and as he entered he could hear the chatter of the present members of the Jedi Council, already discussing the sudden Dark Side spike that every Jedi worth their salt would've just felt.

"It definitely seems he does indeed have a connection to the dark side. I don't truly blame him for being this upset, but even if it was an accident that got Siri killed, that doesn't absolve him of his treason." Obi-Wan had finally come to a conclusion and everyone grimaced in dissatisfaction. Naruto was one of their best, be it as a Jedi or General. He alone had brought victory for the jaws of defeat many times. To lose him was a severe blow to the Order and the Republic.

"Yes, but what should we do about it? You saw him just as I. He was clearly in pain. He's not able to talk about Siri, yet." Plo Koon questioned. He didn't like to play favorite student, but the evidence against his student was mounting. He had taught the blond everything he knew and to see him to down such a path? He could not allow that.

"Decide the Senate shall, in his trials. But first, our grave decision we must inform him of." Yoda responded while hobbling away as all the Jedi Masters looked at the old Grand Master. This was a dark mark on the Order's history. Many younglings had fallen, a Master had been slain, and another was on a dark path.

 **Jedi Temple, Two Days Later**

It had been a couple days since Obi-Wan had visited him, a couple days since he had lashed out at his former comrade. He had denied it all. He would never harm Siri. He was so infuriated by Obi-Wan's words! That man once had a relationship with Siri, but that was temporary, and they were only friends afterwards. Obi-Wan's bond with Siri was not as strong as Naruto bond with her. He somehow still didn't understand. The two were siblings in all but blood. The two of them had fought to the death to keep the other safe and for Obi-Wan to levy such accusations? Damn that old fool.

 _"What's the point…"_ He thought as he walked, unable to find the strength to be mad. He was currently emotionally spent as he was lead to the room to see the council. They had run out of time and Palpatine was demanding that they release him so that the Senate may judge him.

 _"What do you mean no point? Siri would have wanted to you fight! She would have wanted you to move past this! To achieve your dream!"_ Another part of him voiced its opinion. This inner battle had been raging on for a longtime.

 _"But there is nothing left…"_ He thought once more as he kept on walking for what seemed ages until the guards in front of him stopped before the door. He walked forward as the door opened, allowing him in as the guards followed. Flanking him were four temple guards as he entered a dark room where he stood in the center.

"Jedi Master Naruto Uzumaki, you have been charged with crimes against the Republic. How will you plead?" Windu questioned him as Naruto looked at the council assembled before him. His argumentative mind had come to a stop, and he found clarity in that moment. In order to win one fight, he might have to lose another.

"Not guilty." He finally spoke after two weeks. He would never commit such a crime. He would never harm Siri, let alone kill her. Surely they would see at least that.

"I would advise against that. The evidence is heavily against you. Not to mention the taint the Dark Side surrounds you. You know that we cannot remain silent on this fact should the courts call us to testify." Windu continued as the others let him carry out the hearing. Regardless of his connections to the dark side, the majority of the council agreed with Plo Koon that something was amiss. But with the Dark Side nothing could be taken as it seemed. They knew one answer they had to give him, but the other was yet to be determined.

"None of that matters, I had nothing to do with the Separatist attack. I was as surprised as anyone on board to see Separatist ships. As for the Dark Side energy…" Naruto trailed off. What good would it do to tell them anything? He let his emotions get the better of him. He willingly used Kurama's power, which the Dark Side was attracted too? The truth was that he did use the Dark Side. He wanted to kill Grievous so badly at that moment in time that nothing was going to stand in his way.

"The distress beacon was activated on the ship, that allowed the Separatists to use it as a signal to coordinate their attack. Was it not you who activated it?" Ki Adi Mundi's hologram questioned him as Naruto looked up at the Jedi council before him.

"Of course I was the one who activated it." He answered, getting tired of being questioned again and again about crimes he did not commit and his loyalty. Had he lost not enough of comrades to prove his worth? Had he not cut down enough Droids to prove that he was not the enemy?

"So you admit that you aided Grievous?" Saesee Tiin grumbled out, his hard headed nature getting the better of him.

"No, I said I activated the distress beacon. I didn't say when or why. Don't put words in my mouth if you want the truth, Tiin. I activated the distress beacon _**after**_ Grievous had begun his attack. I told you all of this already." Naruto's disrespectful tone had elicited a snarl from the Iktotchi Jedi Master and left a bad taste in the mouths of other Masters, but they knew that Tiin had jumped to conclusions and Naruto was in no mood for that kind of chicanery. This was something that they would let slide.

"We know you used the Dark Side, even now you still have a connection to it." Rancisis' hologram accused and Naruto frowned. Loyal to a fault, Rancisis was always a staunch traditionalist. He was not the least bit concerned for the accusations of treason. That was for courts to decide - not Jedi. But if Naruto had indeed resorted to the dark side - even for a moment - then the possibility was there that it would take hold of him again more permanently the next time. The incident was tragic, but Jedi could be replaced in due time, but letting the dark side go unchecked was something that he would not stand for. The recent incident most likely put Rancisis against him.

"I didn't choose to use it." Naruto stated. It wasn't a total lie. The Kyuubi's power had blinded him to only one emotion, rage.

"But you just tapped into a few days ago, when you tried to attack Master Obi-Wan." Gallia spoke up as Naruto opened his mouth to speak but closed it. Gallia had just lost her former and possibly her most prized student, he couldn't just stand here and say that he didn't. That would be lying, and he wasn't a liar.

"I didn't choose to use it then either…it just happened." He responded. He should have been more careful with the Kyuubi's seal weakened. Every day felt like he was losing control of his emotions, thus allowing the dark side to draw closer to him. Even now, he felt Kurama's chakra clawing at his mind, telling him that if he just accepted his power he could overwhelm the Council and break free. But that would only stain Siri's name further.

There was no way around their argument. He had used the dark side, almost willingly, and he felt so lost. He could argue that the dark side had saved him and the surviving younglings from Grievous, but if he did then the Jedi would be correct about suppressing one's stronger emotions and he would not allow them that satisfaction. Emotions were what made him strong, what made him want to fight and protect the things he cared about.

He had inherited Plo Koon's justice, Kit Fisto's serenity, and Shaak Ti's humility.

He adopted Obi-Wan's prudence, Ahsoka's humors, and Siri's determination.

He passed on his valor to King, his wisdom to Fox, and his individualism to all the men serving under him.

"So then you have no control over your own actions? The dark side just takes hold of you whenever you face the slightest of trials." Rancisis accused, this elicited a frown from Windu and Yoda, as well as Naruto's old masters.

"I can fix this; I just need time. I have to return to my homeworld to -" Naruto began, but Master Rancisis had heard enough excuses.

"You have had all the wisdom and knowledge of the Jedi Order for two decades to prevent this, what help could you possibly find on such a primitive world?!" Rancisis was almost shouting.

"There are some things that go beyond even the knowledge of the Jedi, Master Rancisis!" Plo Koon rose to Naruto's defense just as loudly.

"That doesn't change the fact that he has used the dark side and is a traitor to the Republic!" Rancisis howled back.

"What does using the dark side have to do with accusations of treason? Is it against the law to use the dark side?!" Naruto joined the shouting match in protest. The Council was not seeing the bigger picture, they were focusing on the most minute of mistakes he made in the moment.

"Enough!" Mace Windu roared. He had thought the Jedi Council was above petty bouts of yelling, but he was clearly mistaken. His voice had done what level heads should have, and the chamber was filled with nothing but silence.

"Master Windu, we have already made our decision, why do we waste time hearing this traitor's last rites?" Rancisis answered more calmly through his hologram this time.

 _'Decision? What decision?'_ Naruto wondered. This couldn't be anything good.

"Master Uzumaki, though not all of us are in agreement, it is the opinion this council that you have committed acts of sedition and treason, and you will be expelled from the Jedi Order for the time being." Windu delivered the final blow to Naruto's fragile psyche, and the blond Jedi that had once been their comrade-in-arms was now just a man.

Naruto let his thoughts stew for a moment, not paying any attention to the continued thoughts. This was exactly what the Sith wanted. Now they could lock him in a cell where he couldn't dare to uncover their plans. This Sith that was hiding among the Senators was far more cunning than the entirety of the Jedi Council, that was certain.

The Order's disregard for emotions left them weak and ineffective. It was not his fault that the Order was too weak to put down those who fanned the flames of war. Even now the those who profited and some who were the cause of this war sat in the Senate, passing down judgment. The Order had failed him, they had failed everyone.

"This is all your fault." Naruto accused them all, causing them to look at him in surprise. What did he mean by that? Naruto looked up at them, as they sat high on their chairs, looking down at him, as if they had any right to judge him.

"You've became complacent to the peace that had reigned over a thousand years. You allowed corruption and greed to take hold in the Senate. You made the Order too passive, too arrogant. You disarmed the Order long before the war." Naruto continued his rant as the Dark Side grew more and more powerful within him.

"We did no such thing. We are keepers of peace first, defenders of the Republic second." Windu countered as Naruto chuckled at that with a hint of sinister irony.

"All this pain, death, suffering... this entire conflict. The war would never had happened if you had chosen to root out the conspirators before Dooku gained so much power, but no... You're still holding onto the belief that the Sith have been dead for a millennium. That's what's driven you to become lazy and complacent. You didn't believe Dooku when he said that his Master had control over the Senate, but this entire incident basically proves it. How the Masters of the old would roll in their grave if they saw what the Order has become. Ineffective peacekeepers who only keep the peace while they can still pretend to not be soldiers!" Naruto shouted as the council looked shocked at him.

"Naruto, please calm down." Plo Koon reasoned with his former student. Despite what had happened, Naruto was someone who he considered as a son. He would support the blond, but his actions were making it harder for him to argue for him.

"Calm down?! How can I be calm! The Sith move in the shadows against the Order! Against the galaxy! Against me! You think they're dead and gone but they've just changed tactics, and you're still clinging to a thousand years of the same old same old! You're the ones who killed those younglings! You're the ones who…killed my sister!" Naruto shouted as he closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face as he fell to his knees.

"Why can't you just trust me? I could never harm Siri, every one of you should know that!" He tried to reason again as the Council looked at him. Gallia's eyes softened as she watched the blond Jedi writhe in anguish. He could never harm Siri. Her former student used to go on and on about her dear little brother. This was not a man who would betray the Republic without a clear and serious reason. Something was wrong.

"That's enough. Come Naruto. I will assume responsibility for him." Shaak Ti spoke up as she stood up from her position and approached her former student before talking him outside the chamber without any regard to the Council's opinion on the matter. The poor boy's mind was not in an emotional stable state and she felt that the Order was rushing things. As she left with him, the council room was left in a pregnant silence as everyone looked at each other. Finally, Kit Fisto broke the silence.

"I have trained Naruto when he was a child and I know for a fact that a traitor he is not. Something is wrong here and we know it." Fisto stated as Plo Koon nodded. The two believed Naruto's side of story. This was clearly the work of the Sith. They were concerned about the Dark Side, but they knew that it was the result of the Kyuubi taking over, most likely after seeing Siri being killed by Grievous did Naruto lose control, despite what others say that it was Naruto who killed Siri. The others were more concerned about the Dark Side. The feared what it might do when a Jedi as powerful as Naruto become corrupted by it.

"We will discuss this later." Windu stated as he stood up to leave. Something was indeed amiss.

 **Outside the Council Chambers**

Shaak Ti lead the blond Jedi through the halls of the temple. She was not convinced that Naruto killed Siri or even staged the ambush. In all her time as his teacher she knew that Naruto placed loyalty above all.

"It's ok." She comforted him as he cried on her shoulder. He had lost someone dear to him and was being blamed for a crime he did not committee.

"N-Nothing's ok. Everything's going to…shit…" Naruto responded as his eyes started to dry up. Shaak Ti sighed as she looked at him. He was like a son to her and to see him on such pain brought her no joy.

"Come now Naruto, I know you didn't do what they claim you did. I will defend your case as shall Master Fisto and Plo Koon but remember that Master Windu said 'for the time being'. We don't have the time to conduct a full investigation, we need more time. We will do our best to ensure that you aren't given the death penalty. When the war is over, we will demand a rehearing of your trial with a new Chancellor. One that isn't as eager to sweep things under the rug as Palpatine." Shaak Ti stated as Naruto raised an eyebrow before smiling. At least he knew that there were some people he could rely on. He had three Masters who were backing him, because they believed in him.

"Thank you, Master Shaak Ti…but it isn't enough." Naruto thanked her as he bowed. Shaak Ti was taken aback. "The opinion of three Jedi is meaningless when nine others are too blinded to see the truth.

"It was actually four, Adi Gallia was in your camp as well." Shaak Ti stated. She hated seeing her once student being thrown to the wolves. "I know you won't like it, but I have to return you to your cell." Naruto nodded the Temple guards escorted him to his cell, leaving Shaak Ti to her thoughts.

 **Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center, One Week Later**

Ahsoka was not having a good week. She had wanted to see her big brother, Naruto, but they kept denying her a visit after she was cleared from the medbay. Her wounds weren't serious, but she could only imagine what kind of turmoil Naruto was in right now. But she couldn't help. No one believed her story. Her report was completely glossed over by the authorities. To them she was just a fresh Padawan who was highly biased in Naruto's favor. The dark side swirling within and the evidence against him had far more weight than a Padawans word.

With the Order having thrown Naruto to the wolves and the Republic eager to sweep the incident under the rug, Ahsoka made a daring choice. This was a last-ditch attempt to visit Naruto in prison, despite the Order having commanded her to stay away from him.

Walking closer to his cell, she noticed two Jedi temple guards patrolling. Narrowing her eyes, she looked up to find a way in and behold she found a ventilation shaft. Jumping up, she quickly opened it and proceeded to make her way to Naruto's cell.

"Good thing I'm small enough to pass through these things." Ahsoka muttered to herself as she kept crawling through the old vents of the temple. When she was younger, she and Naruto used to pull pranks a lot and the vents were an easy way to escape. These weren't much different.

Ahsoka dropped into the front of the cell silently, but her presence in the Force was not masked from the former Jedi Master.

"Get the hell away from me. I'm not answering questions and I won't listen to any more of your lies." She heard Naruto's voice from the corner of the cell, but it wasn't the kind voice that he was known for. No, this time it was filled with disdain and frustration. A restraint hung around his neck as he sulked in the corner.

"Naruto." She spoke quickly as Naruto looked over his shoulder at the familiar voice.

"Ahsoka, what are you doing here?" He questioned her as she walked up to him.

"I came here to see you. There are some things we need to talk about." She responded as Naruto closed his eyes and sighed.

"Ahsoka, you can't help me. Don't even think about asking." Naruto waved it off.

"The Masters have told me that." She stated as Naruto looked at her for bit before sighing.

"What is it?" He questioned her as she sat down on a chair next to him.

"Back on Ilum, I had these visions. Visions of you fighting the other Masters, of villages burning. A three-eyed women hunting people down. A pale-skinned man who can control sand? I don't know what these visions mean. Master Yoda told us all that each Padawan encounters their own images in the caves, but what do mine mean? I've never seen any of those places and I could barely understand what they were saying. It seemed like it was ancient Mandalore, but-" Ahsoka questioned as Naruto mulled over these visions, but his mind was still clouded by the Dark side within. Kurama's influence was keeping him from thinking clearly. After a tense pause, he finally breaks his silence.

"Ahsoka, tell me more about these places. What about the man who control sand what was he doing?" Naruto didn't know anything about three-eyed people, but something about sand and Mandalore seemed familiar, and it wasn't just because the planet had been turned into a desert.

"H-he was standing in a village. The whole place was on fire. I think he was attacking it for some reason. His skin was pale as snow and his eyes were red with these weird symbols in them." Naruto's heart began to beat life back into his body for a moment.

"Was the man wearing a headband? What kind of shape did it have on it?" Naruto was wondering if these events were really from Mandalore or was it possible there were from...

"No, he wasn't wearing one. But there was this red-haired boy with something like that wrapped around his bandolier. I couldn't see it very well; he was slumped over in the man's arms. I think he was dead." Ahsoka remembered the vision as best she could. Naruto was completely silent for an entire minute.

"Did this village have four stone faces carved into the mountain?" he finally asked.

"Y-yeah, it did! How did you know that? Unless you...have you've been there before?" Naruto again fell into silence. It was probably for the best that Ahsoka didn't know the truth. He contemplated his next words carefully, but again Kurama kept his mind clouded.

"Ahsoka. I want you to give up on becoming a Jedi." Naruto at last said grimly.

"What? But why? They explained everything to me. They're going to get you out of here after the war is over!" Naruto wanted to believe that, he really did, but he knew that was a foolish pipe dream.

"Guards! There's an intruder in my cell!" Naruto called out and the rush of footsteps could be heard outside. "By that time it will be too late, but please trust me. I'm not saying this entirely out of selfish reasons. I can't protect you from in here." She looked at him in a mix of shock and anger. She was sick and tired of being treated like a stupid kid.

"I don't need you to protect me anymore! I'm a Padawan now. I still have a lot to learn, but you had to start somewhere too! Don't let your feelings about me get in the way." Ahsoka vouched for herself desperately, but Naruto knew the storm that was coming for the Republic. She heard the particle shield behind her slide open, but she kept staring into his eyes. They were the bright blue sapphires they were before. They were clouded with a mist of red swirling within.

This was not Naruto. Not anymore. The real Naruto wasn't such a defeatist.

"Leave the Order now, Ahsoka, it's for the best that you disappear from the Galactic stage." He says to her as the guards gripped Ahsoka firmly under the shoulder Ahsoka and began to drag her out.

"Wait! Let me talk to him! Naruto, I need to know more!" She pleaded, but the guards would have none of it. They dragged her away being none too gentle as she struggled as tears started to well in her eyes. Why won't they just let her talk to him?! She used the force to throw the guards back and slammed her fists on the reactivated particle shield.

"Please Naruto, don't leave me! You can still find your way out of this somehow." She was pleading desperately for Naruto to do anything, but he simply turned back into his corner and sat down to meditate.

There was nothing anyone could do for an expelled Jedi.

 **Who will come to Naruto's rescue now? What has Palpatine in store for our hero? Will my throat get any better by next week?! Find out in the next chapter! So? How was this chapter? I guess you could say this is the "true" start of the story, but oh, we aim to take it even further then just the Clone Wars! This will be the greatest Naruto X Star Wars fanfiction ever written! Muahahahaha *starts coughing* ok, maybe it will be. Who knows. We'll catch you all later! Bye!**


	24. Interlude: The Expelled Jedi

**Well, hello there! Did you think that we would take another month to right the next chapter? Wrong! So, here it is, the next chapter! Things are heating up as lines are drawn, sides are chosen! What will happen to Naruto? Well, you're gonna have to read for it! Now, I know that we basically went full on prequels with all the politics, but it builds. So I hope you like it! Bye!**

 **Nar Shaddaa, Meltdown Café, Two Days Earlier**

The young boy named Boba Fett looked and felt extremely out of place as he handed over the credits to the bartender, receiving a drink and a matchbook in return. Being a roughly eleven-year-old boy in the care of the apprentice to your deceased father, the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, was an odd experience. Especially when you didn't even know the person's name.

"Here's your drink." The bartender spoke as he ferried the drink over to his new guardian which was difficult in the dimly lit corner of the bar. Feeling a little rebellious, Boba took a sip of his own drink and immediately started coughing.

"That tastes _**horrible**_! How can you stand to drink that?" Boba complained as he handed over the drink. He did not enjoy the bitter, burning sensation one bit.

"You get used to it at some point." his mentor chuckled a bit as he took another sip of his drink. Clearly the Mandalorian bounty hunter was looking to get as drunk as possible. Boba sighed. Ever since his father was murdered by the Jedi, he had been traveling around with this guy. Namely because they had stolen _Slave I_ , and there was no way Boba could take it back by force. He wasn't too eager to be all on his own yet, anyways.

 _"We interrupt this local broadcast for a breaking news update. It's been reported that General Naruto Uzumaki, who was arrested early last week, has been convicted of espionage and murder charges in what was - to this reporter - a curiously expedited trial. It is the position of this network that the proceedings were hastened in an effort to dissuade further disloyalty to the Republic amongst others systems in the wake of the recent mass desertions in response to the General's arrest."_ a Galactic News station announced as to mixed reactions from the bar patrons.

There were many bounty hunters in the bar that wanted to collect the bounty on that Jedi's head that had been placed there by various gangsters and criminal organizations, namely the Black Sun Pirates. The Separatists also had a massive bounty out for him. Others were a bit shocked by the news. The blond Jedi was a war hero and had won the Republic many battles. To hear that this damn boy scout was arrested for treason wasn't something that clicked with them.

 _"Uzumaki has been previously hailed as a war hero for his victories at Bestine and Rhen Var, but Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, a former close friend of the Jedi, has announced his suspicions that hese victories were fabricated in order to allow the Jedi Master to rise in the Republic's ranks in order to provide more intel to the Separatists. The Mandalorian Jedi will face the Senate for high treason against the Republic in a hearing that we're sure is to be held just as quickly as these court cases."_ The report finished with even more grim news for the blond Jedi.

 _"So. He was a traitor, eh? Wonder why Dooku didn't tell dad he was on our side?"_ Boba thought as he viewed the news update, mildly interested. He held no love for the Jedi, they had killed his father, murdered him. It was fine by him if another one ended up dead. Looking over to his guardian, the young Boba raised an eyebrow. His guardian had tensed up slightly and was keenly listening to the news. Boba wished he could see his face. He'd seen it before, of course, even though the guy seemed to like hiding it from the world whenever possible, but Boba wanted to see the look on his look on his face more than his face itself.

 _"I remember... he fought that Jedi back on Geonosis. Told me he'd faced him before. Maybe he feels disappointed on losing out on fighting a worthy opponent. Or maybe he's just weirdly celebrating that he's being jailed for life, maybe even executed if that treason charge sticks."_ Boba thought as he went back to his non-alcoholic drink after thinking of Geonosis. Truthfully, his guardian was thinking about something else.

 **Taris, 10th Army Headquarters Building**

The air on Taris was thick tonight. After the new of their General's so called treason had reached them, they knew something was wrong. Some within the 10th Army thought that such a thing was impossible. Fox and King were locked in a heated argument with Bly.

"I said 'cut it out', King. And that goes for you too, Fox. This isn't about rank, it's about sanity. Be thankful we don't have our transponders on, otherwise we'd have MPs swarming this place arresting all of us for that kind of talk." CC-5052 Bly, Marshal Commander of the 327th Starfighter Corps had finally decided to put his foot down. It hurt him greatly to speak ill of his fellow officers, as Bly had respected Naruto for rescuing Aayla on Bestine, as much as any other Clone before his treason.

He knew that Naruto was doomed and he didn't want his brothers to meet the same fate. But these fools were damn near ready to disobey all orders, go AWOL and attempt to speak on the General's behalf at his upcoming trial. That was a fine recipe for get yourself thrown into the same boiling pot for whatever meal the Senate was using to brew Naruto soup.

Bly silently wondered if that would taste like ramen.

"We're not saying anything incriminating. We're - well, _**I'm**_ at least suggesting that we politely _**ask**_ to speak at his trial." Fox suggested. He had known Naruto the longest and he knew that something was wrong.

"You really think the Senate gives a damn what a group of clones has to say about a damn traitor?" 7th Legion commander A'den spoke out against their plan. Unlike Bly, A'den didn't hold the same respect for Naruto. The two had got off on the wrong foot and never reconciled.

"It's not like I planned on going in there to take the whole proceeding hostage. Speaking of, why is the Senate hearing his case instead of a court?" Fox questioned once more.

"It's a hearing for treason against the Republic and her people. The Senate represents the people. In this case, it's the prosecution and the defense. Treason proceedings aren't meant to be right and just judicial affairs. They're meant to be for handing death sentences... and to give the accused a small bit of extra time to build their defense. It's not exactly fair, but it's better than him being tried for all three crimes at once and found guilty and executed immediately afterwards." Bly pointed out.

"It's alleged treason. They don't really have any concrete evidence. Those voice recordings are sketchy at best. How do we know those weren't fabricated by the Separatists? They were thrown out by the courts in his espionage trial. The only thing they had were the intercepted messages, but there's no proof he actually wrote them. Just that someone with access to his clearance code did. Everything is circumstantial." King reminded. He was a valuable general who had won many battles for the Republic being jailed on just circumstantial evidence? It didn't make any sense.

"Almost all evidence in cases like this are circumstantial. And those transmissions were enough to get him convicted, weren't they? The Senate has basis to try him on his conviction of espionage alone. Quite frankly, I am surprised this didn't happen sooner." A'den stated as Fox narrowed his eyes at him.

"What do you mean by that, _trooper._ " Fox questioned, sensing that Bly was getting out of line. Fox was loyal to Naruto first and the Republic second and that was clear to the fellow flag officers in the 10th. Bly merely rolled his eyes at him.

"Come on, Fox, don't you think it would have happened eventually? He has always harbored some sympathy for the Separatists. I didn't expect him to go this far, but what happened happened. That's enough of this borderline seditious talk. It's time for my men to get some sleep. We just got back from Vandelhelm and I don't need any more of this on my mind" Bly responded as he turned to leave, not wanting to be a part of this.

"If he wasn't a traitor from the start, he turned traitor at some point. Perhaps he struck a deal with Dooku on Rhen Var." King wanted to reach for his vibroblade right there and cut A'den's tongue out for daring to say that. "What? You can't tell me you aren't the least be curious how he survived those wounds. Doesn't make sense that Dooku wouldn't aim to kill... unless he had turned Naruto over to his side." That was the last straw, but Bly had firmly placed his hand on A'den's shoulder and had begun ushering him towards the barracks.

"Sorry about that, that was too far. But _**my**_ point still stands. We're just Clones. We shouldn't get involved." Bly finished the conversion as he began marching A'den away, leaving Fox bewildered. Naruto had treated them as if they were his own brothers and this is how they returned that loyalty?

"Why I oughta…" Fox was going to teach those bastards a lesson but was stopped by King. He looked back in shock. Was King on their side too?

"Let them go. At least we know who we can trust now." King stated as Fox cooled his head and sat back down.

"We're _**not**_ just clones. Naruto made sure each of us were taught that much, at least." Fox protested.

"You're right. And that's why it's needed for us to do what we do best. Think for ourselves." King affirmed his determination in helping Naruto.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Fox questioned as King smirked.

"Now that we've got the dissenters out of the way, I think it's time you meet our supporters." King waved his hand. A few minutes later, a multitude of captains, lieutenants, and various sergeants from Legions in the 14th Corps had been hiding and listening in. Notably, the officers of the 497th had shown up in full.

"This was never about speaking at his trial, was it?" Fox raised an eyebrow in suspicion. King nodded.

"We all know Naruto is innocent. We all know what we have to do."

"You don't actually mean?" Fox chuckled nervously.

"You know that Senate has already decided their verdict." King announced. "There's no way Naruto is getting out of this without our help." Fox stood there stunned for a moment, but he quickly came to the same conclusion. Naruto was as much their brother as they were to one another.

"Well then, what are were going to do?" Fox asked curious to hear King's plan.

"Well that's about as far as we got. _**We**_ can't do anything. Not alone, at least. The second our cruiser approaches the system it'll be surrounded by the entire CHDF and impounded, if not shot down on the spot. Ignoring those possibilities, we probably wouldn't get past the planetary shield anyways." King reasoned as Fox sighed. They would be outnumbered and outgunned and even in a Star Destroyer they wouldn't last long.

"A big team is no good. We're going to need a small elite crew." Storm suggested. A small team could land on Coruscant in any old shuttle and wouldn't attract attention.

"Did you all forget about security? The place is going to be surrounded by Jedi and the Senatorial Guard and I don't think anyone aside from King here is capable of taking on a Jedi Knight alone." Gamble reminded them that they were hopelessly outmatched.

"He should be more than enough. He took down Asajj Ventress, didn't he? That's something General Skywalker barely managed to do. Once we free the General the two of you should be able to escape no problem!" Spirit was optimistic as always.

"I got lucky against Ventress, and I had Naruto's help the entire fight." King dismissed these claims offhandedly but the others weren't quite understanding him. "Battle Meditation, remember?" King reminded them that Naruto had been keeping up his Battle Meditation ever since they entered the hangar.

It was thanks to this power that Fox, Storm, and Fang managed to take down an acolyte. Naruto's power seemingly affected as far out as King was. Which was odd considering that Naruto claimed his range was supposedly reduced if he remained mobile while using the technique. It shouldn't have been able to reach King.

"Anyways, these Jedi won't be cowards like her. The Temple Guard is seriously devoted and won't flee unless another Jedi shows up to relieve them." King continued

"Stealth is our best option then." Fang surmised. It was his area of expertise, after all.

"Stealth will only get us to Naruto, it won't let us free him or get us out of there." Blitz put a dampener on everyone's enthusiasm.

"Maybe we could hire someone? Like a bounty hunter?" Fox recommended. That raised a few whispers, but Stoic got up to rain on everyone's parade.

"What bounty hunter do you know that would dare to help Naruto Uzumaki, the fabled hunter of bounty hunters? As well as take on dozens of highly trained guards, and some of them probably being Jedi?" Security around Naruto, and the Senate in general, would be absurd. He was constantly surrounded by about twenty of the Republic's finest, and no less than four Temple Guardsmen at any time.

"What about a really, really good bounty hunter? Like our father?" Bulk offered a suggestion so simple that no one could really consider the brilliance behind it. It was kind of his trademark.

"Did your brain freeze in the clouds up there big guy? It's sometimes comical how little you think about things." Fang poked fun at his brother's defect. "Being nearly two hundred n' thirty centimeters it probably takes a little longer for the fresh blood to reach your head."

"Don't be an asshole, Fang. There is some truth to his words. An elite bounty hunter the likes of Aurra Sing or Cad Bane might be able to do the job; provided they had a capable support team." Flash was a jokester like Fang, but insulting his brothers for a quick laugh was strictly off limits.

"Maybe they could, but it doesn't matter. Clone's aren't paid. We don't have the money for your average run of the mill bounty hunter, let alone a well renowned one." King answered as everyone frowned and thought over plan. "And before anyone suggests it, Naruto's assets have almost definitely been seized. He doesn't have the money to pay them after the fact, either." Something had to be done.

"...I have an idea." a somewhat sheepish voice spoke up from behind them - as sheepish as their identical voices could sound, at least. It was the new Captain of the 3rd 'Anura' Company, Commander Toad. Plenty of the old guard rolled their eyes and groaned, but King silenced them quickly with a single wave of his hand.

"Let's hear it then, Toad." King couldn't help but smile. This was what he was hoping for all along. Brains Company was always famous for its brilliant strategies.

 **Palpatine's Office, Coruscant, Present Day**

 **Palpatine's Office, Coruscant, Present Day**

Palpatine was scowling. Scowling at the fact that even after being rid of the Jedi that had been causing him so much trouble, he still managed to somehow be a thorn in his side. The Sith Lord may have underestimated the influence that Uzumaki had, the Republic Army was thrown into chaos by the desertions of countless irregulars. The final number had still yet to be tallied. Still, he was had to pay attention to the small committee that was gathered before him as they discussed on some worrying issues, at least for them.

"This is pressing matter!" A Senator voiced his concerns as another one waved it away as another one from a Mid Rim world frowned.

"You're world isn't under constant threat from Separatist invasions! Our worlds are becoming a battleground and we need those irregulars to ensure security while the Clones push forward!" The senator stated. The Core Worlds may not bat an eye to the desertion of so many irregulars, but the Mid Rim worlds were tucking their tails between their legs. Security in the Mid Rim was rooted heavily in the irregular volunteers, but with them fleeing in droves it left the worlds exposed to more than just Separatist attacks, but also piracy, and just the fact that the threat of invasion was looming made their economies shaky at best. No one wanted to invest in a world that was about to be bombarded by turbolaser fire.

"Please, it is hardly a matter at all. Why should be bother the Clone Army with matters that should be handled by planetary security?" An unconcerned Senator from the Core worlds stated. Palpatine merely kept quiet. He had wisely chosen Senators that didn't have any previous interactions with the blond to form the prosecution, citing a need for unbiased opinion, but it was all a farce. Many of the Senators gathered here did not like the blond Jedi as he was quite open about his disdain for their exploitation of other systems for their own wealth, the others were merely seat fillers so that it wasn't obvious what the Chancellor was planning.

"We have mass desertions on our hand! Current count says more than two million irregulars have just up and deserted from the GAR, including all of the ones under the 10th Army. Those irregulars were important in keeping the peace on occupied planets, as well as being the core of our response teams, but now we'll have to waste Clones on garrison forces until we can replace them!" The Senator reasoned as much as he could in his panic. It was a waste of the Clone army to tie it down every planet they liberated from the Separatists.

"Your concern is wasting the Clones time? The Mid Rim worlds are the most exposed they have ever been! Any Separatist invasion will face no resistance! These desertions leave more than just the Mid Rim exposed. The Separatists could find a crack " Another Senator shouted. It was clear to him that the Core world did not concern themselves with the safety of the Mid Rim and even Outer Rim worlds, only themselves.

"There are plans for a new bill which will provide funding for an additional order of Clones. The purpose was to fund an order of five million, but we will have to amend that number to accommodate these desertions, but I will see to it that it is passed in the next few months. I think an additional three million troops will satisfy your concerns, Senator. Of course, we may have to levy higher taxes on your worlds to pay the difference." Palpatine reassured the Senators from the mid rim, it the location of the heaviest fighting for the moment and it only made sense that they would have to pay to defend themselves.

" _ **Another**_ eight million clones?! The Republic has had a standing galactic army in the tens of millions since the New Sith Wars. Nevermind fulfilling the purchase order, how do you plan to maintain it? Not just in terms of rations and supplies, but transportation and support. You'll have to order another ten thousand Star Destroyers! At least that many! The cost will be outrageous. You can't expect the Mid Rim to bear that burden on it's own." The Senator said, incredulous. Palpatine was nigh proposing a military state. The military situation was bad, but it couldn't possibly be that grim, could it?

"The Mid Rim would not be able to support it alone, the Inner Rim and Core Worlds will have to contribute as well." Palpatine alleviated the Senators concerns, but the

"Chancellor Palpatine! You're not suggesting -"

"We are all in this conflict together, Senator. If the Mid Rim falls to the Separatists, the Inner Rim and Colonies will be next. If we lose the agriworlds there, then the Core will not be able to feed itself. Our surrender would be inevitable at that point. I'm sure the people on Brentaal can afford it, Senator." The Chancellor shut down the Senator's protest. It was fueled by insatiable greed and an unearned sense of importance.

"Numbers aren't our only problem, there's also the fact that this news has had a devastating effect on the morale of our troops, I have to question if we can win without Naruto's leadership?" The Senator continued as Palpatine did not like were this was going. He could not allow support for Naruto to grow within a committee he himself had made.

"But we were winning without him...he was never truly on our side." Another Senator rebuked him, causing him to sigh. The gravity of the situation seemed loss of most of them. To the Mid Rim Naruto was a hero. He was the one who was willing to defend them against the Separatist.

"Let's assume for a minute that he's actually innocent. With the way the Confederacy has been hammering us these past few months, I'm no longer confident in our victory without him leading the troops." This was a good point the Senator brought up. Palpatine would have to order Dooku to reel in the ferocity of their attacks, as was their original plan before Naruto proceeded to shut down their invasion of Fondor and take valuable natural resources from Bestine almost a year sooner than intended. Dooku was forced to use the full might of the Confederacy for a moment there.

"We could arrange a conditional pardon for him after the Senate votes to convict." Another Senator stated as Palpatine had enough of it. He would not allow such a thing to even be mentioned! He wanted Naruto dead, dead!

"That is not an option, Senator. He would defect the second he is back on the battlefield. It would cost of more lives if he did it during a battle." Palpatine reasoned as everyone present thought over it. You just couldn't trust a traitor, even after they were pardoned.

"Be that as it may, the problem still stands. Who will defend our worlds? The Clone Army as it is will be stretched too thin if they are tied to defend planets in the Mid Rim. The next batch will take time, but what will happen till then? We won't be able to go on the offensive." A rational Senator voiced his opinion. With the Clones tied to defending planets, there would be no major offensives in the coming months until new Clones were ready.

"Then the Clone army will have to make do with what they have as of now. We cannot defend all the planets." A Senator replied, outraging the few Mid Rim Senators.

"You would rather let our worlds fall then defend them?!" A Senator shouted, standing up in rage as he glared at the fool. Palpatine saw that this committee would soon break if nothing was done.

"Senators, please. Rest assured that the Clone army will defend your worlds. I will stall what of our planned offensives I can and order the Grand Army of the Republic to defend until the next batch of Clones is ready." Palpatine interjected as he smiled kindly, but behind his mask he was grinning. He could finally prolong the war and further increase his power. This brief hurdle was ultimately a win in his eyes.

 **Taris, 10th Army Headquarters, Two Days Later**

The mood on Taris hadn't changed. On the outside it seemed fine, but on inside it was a different story. Fox and King had to keep things under wraps, least their intentions of breaking out Naruto were made known to Clones still loyal to the Republic.

However, everything had taken an interesting turn now that Ross had returned from from the Battle of Eriadu with Tarkin.

"You're right, we need to intervene." Was simply what Ross stated to King, who was surprised by his support. Ross had served in the Republic for a very long time. For him to suggest something that would forever end his career as a Republic officer was an unexpected move to say the least.

"We have been planning on that as well, but we don't have the finances to break him out." Fox explained Ross their plan of hiring an outside source to break Naruto out.

"Think you could spare us some change to hire someone?" Flash suggested, but Ross shook his head.

"No point. The entire 10th army is most likely under watch. I wouldn't be surprised if all my accounts are 'out of service' until after his trial." Ross responded. The Senate would get the execution they wanted, even if they had to use underhanded methods.

"Great, back to square one." Storm stated as he threw his hands up. He hated this! He hated it when he couldn't deal with a problem with a blaster!

"Not exactly." Toad spoke up as he held a data pad in his hand. Everyone turned to face him as he worked on his datapad.

"The General, prior to the war, went on many missions in different systems. So he's pretty well linked to a several systems and their people. I've been keeping an eye on the said Senators of these worlds." Toad started as everyone nodded, waiting for him to finish.

"People like Bail Organa of Alderaan?" Fox pointed out as Ross shook his head. Organa had always been a close friend of Naruto's for years.

"Organa is a die-hard Republic supporter. He believes that the system works, and he won't abandon his principle to break out a single man who helped his people, no matter how much he likes him. He could, however, be an ally in the future." Ross responded as Toad nodded, pressing a few buttons on his pad.

"Right, but I think there is one that _**will**_ be willing to help. Naruto wouldn't like her getting dragged into this, but I'm certain she'll help. She's been doing everything in her power to delay the proceedings. She's caused quite an uproar and is getting on Palpatine's nerves daily." Toad stated as everyone wondered who it was he was talking about.

"If that's true, then I think have someone in mind that we can hire, though I don't think Naruto would appreciate it very much either." King offered as everyone nodded. "They're going to be expensive too. The guy is so skilled he actually demands the rewards for his own bounty hunts." They were going to need the best of the best for this one, and that sounded like just the ticket..

"The Senate building is going to be too heavily guarded for a single man. Even Naruto would be overwhelmed." Ross pointed out. A single bounty hunter wasn't going to be enough.

"That's why King and I will be going as well." Fox stated as King turned to him in approval. With or without help, King was going to rescue his brother, but he didn't want to speak for Fox.

"So am I. You're going to need me if you want to be able to sneak in undetected. Once we spring the boss though, it'll probably be all you guys." Fang stated. As the Captain of a covert ops, it was a no brainer that he would want to be onboard.

"If King is going, then you can count me in." Blitz stated, he wasn't about to let King go on a potentially suicidal mission alone.

"I'm with you, too." Storm chimed in, wanting to free the General as well. Toad was also going to volunteer, but King stopped them.

"Sorry, gents, but with me and Fox gone, we need someone to take care of things here. _**You're**_ still recovering and I need _**you**_ to manage things here, Toad. Once news hits that Naruto has escaped, I'm sure there will be defectors from other Legions." King stated and Toad nodded in approval. Naruto had always protected Brains Company from being too ridiculed in the first month before Wiz's promotion had gone through. He wanted to go, but knew that King's plan made more sense. He would stay behind and keep watch over things in the 497th until the time was right.

"I'm definitely going." Flash stepped forward as everyone slowly understood why. Flash was under the direct command of Siri many times and and was considered her right-hand man. She had also bestowed him his name. The two had been pretty close from the get go, and Flash knew she would want him to rescue her little brother.

"Good, we're probably gonna need a getaway driver and you're the best one there is." King replied as he looked around.

"I think we got some of the best Clones in the entire 10th Army on our side, other then Storm that is." Fang commented as Strom eyebrow twitched.

"I'm better than you, butterfingers." Storm stated as everyone chuckled.

"Alright boys, ready up. Ross, you should contact this Senator. And... I'll give you the name of the bounty hunter, too." King stated as he took Toad's datapad and uploaded some information before handing it off to Ross.

Operation Lights Out was a go.

 **Senate Building, Loyalist Committee Chambers**

News traveled fast in the Galactic Senate, and news about one of the top Jedi Generals - the youngest and perhaps the best of them - being put on trial for treason. Well, that traveled really fast. The Chancellor himself was pushing for the trail to end as fast as he could make it and most were content to simply help him glide it along. But that's not to say that there wasn't any opposition. Ironically, the loyalist committee - the group of Senators who had argued so vehemently for steadfast adhesion to the Republic - were some of those standing most in the way of Palpatine's crusade against the former Jedi.

"We need to find more ways to support Naruto. I can't believe that he is capable of committing treason and the Senate is poised to convict him in a few days." Padme reasoned with her fellow Senators, but they all began to look unsure. With the war raging on and their worlds at risk of Separatist invasion, this was not the time to have a skilled general being charged for treason. Still, the chancellor was going to get what he wanted, and applying pressure was not out of his realm. They were beginning to feel his grip tighten around them.

"Can't or won't believe it, Senator Amidala?" the bloated Senator from Ryloth, Orn Free Taa, the leader of the Committee, had already made his decision to back off. Ryloth was currently occupied by the Confederacy, and if he had any chance of the Republic sending a task force to liberate his homeworld, it wasn't going to be through opposing the Chancellor.

"As usual, I agree with you, Senator Amidala. We need to stand by and support Naruto. He's done too much for the Republic to be cast aside as a traitor in such a rushed trial. The Chancellor wants to make this go away as quickly as possible in the name of stability, but he has forgotten justice in his course." Bail stated, surprising many. Bail always said he had faith in the system, yet here he was, attempting to go against the courts. For Bail, however, it was more than just another Jedi. Naruto's first solo mission as a Jedi Knight had saved Alderaan. He uncovered a conspiracy by House Alde that would have saw corrupt government officials gaining power and defecting to the Confederacy.

"The evidence isn't in Uzumaki's favor." Senator Mon Mothma of Chandrila warned. Recordings? Usage of the Dark Side of the Force? Clearly the blond Jedi was not what he claimed to be in their eyes.

"As you'll recall, the recordings were thrown out, Senator. The only evidence they have is that Naruto was at the scene of the attack with a distress beacon activated. Tell me what you would do if hostile starships suddenly ambushed you?" Bail reasoned with Mon Mothma.

"Evidence thrown out in the courts is not inadmissible to the Senate." She argued politely. She could do more good for the Republic within the Chancellor's favor rather than outside it. Perhaps she could eventually convince him to give up his Emergency Powers.

"There isn't any proof that Grievous was even there. A lot of people are saying Uzumaki did it alone, and that Tachi was caught by surprise. Wouldn't certainly catch me by surprise if my closest ally turned on me. In that situation, I don't think I'd be in the right frame of mind to defend myself even if I saw it coming." Senator Lexi Dio of Uyter was a close friend of Padme, and she was beginning to worry that the Chancellor would come after her if she persisted too long.

"The fact that Grievous was there isn't so much in question as whether or not Master - er, Mister - Uzumaki was a part of the attack. " Rodian Senator Onaconda Farr tried to calm the more fervent Senators from making mistakes. "And I think what you're all forgetting that his story has multiple holes in it."

"Like what?" Padme asked with a twinge of spite, her face reddening. Her 'Uncle Ono' was a close family friend and one of her mentors, and to have him against her was wounding.

"Like how did Grievous know where to find them? There was no tracker found on the ship, despite Uzumaki's claim otherwise, and knowledge of the route is highly confidential. Only the Jedi Council and the Jedi supervising the mission know the specific route taken. You're not suggesting that someone within the Jedi Council set him up, are you? I was under the impression that he was well liked by most of them, and at the very least grudgingly respected by the others." Ono retorted. Padme did her best to remain calm, but she was failing. Thankfully, Bail stepped up to the plate.

"Grievous is a cyborg, he could've easily removed a tracker on the ship from outside. He doesn't need air like you or I do." Bail suggested. This relieved Padme, but the others were not so thrilled by his continued support of the blond.

"That doesn't mean there _**was**_ a tracker, Senator Organa. We have to accept the facts as they are presented to us, not how we would like them to appear." Orn Free Taa tried to reframe the argument, but it feel on deaf ears to Padme.

"I know Naruto personally, there is no way he would've ever killed Master Tachi. All he ever talked about, aside from boasting about himself, was boasting about her. The two were inseparable whenever they were able to be together."

"I know this is heartbreaking for you, Senator Amidala, but we cannot continue our support of Naruto. Our careers depend on it." Taa tried to reason, but his words had inadvertently upset Padme even further.

"So your career is more important than the life of an innocent man?" Padme asked, now furious at the wealthy Twi'lek Senator. The two had a difficult relationship despite being political allies, but his decadence and self-indulgence had shown its ugly head too many times.

"That's not what I meant, Padme. And the courts have already decided that he is guilty. There's no point in tying up the Senate over a pointless treason trial." Taa tried to explain himself, but Padme had heard enough.

"Then I will give him political asylum on Naboo." Padme proposed, shocking everyone. What she had suggested was akin to political suicide, and possible even actual suicide should the courts decide to prosecute her too in the aftermath. Naboo would not doubt face political and economic isolation from the Republic. For Padme however it didn't matter. Naruto was someone she had wronged, and she would do everything to right her failures.

"You do realize that if he's given political asylum on your world, assuming the Chancellor doesn't have you arrested on the spot, will mark both him and all of Naboo as potential Separatist turncoats. I doubt that Chancellor Palpatine would hesitate to secure his homeworld against any Confederate threat. You'd be turning your home into an inevitable battlefield." Ister Paddie of Sermeria warned Padme, who only glared with more determination.

"I am against this plan too, Padme. I know he's a hero and I know you care for him deeply, but he's not worth the suffering of an entire innocent world. We should continue to oppose the Chancellor and stall the proceedings. Perhaps the Jedi's own investigation will be able to come to a conclusion in that time." Bail was beginning to get worried. He wanted to save Naruto without damming Padme in the process.

"Senator Organa, please see reason! If he is not a traitor then surely the courts would find him as such? You have always had faith in the justice of the Republic. Don't tell me it has suddenly faltered now?" Lexi questioned Bail and then looked over pleadingly to Padme, small tears forming in her eyes at the thought of Padme being hauled off in chains like a criminal. Bail pursed his lips in thought. Everything was working against them. The Chancellor was amassing more political power by the day and Bail had no choice. The support for Naruto was too little and what little of it there was were beginning to remain silent, fearful of political isolation.

"You're right. The courts will be the judge now." Bail gave up as Padme looked at him, betrayed. Padme tried to speak but Bail stopped her by raising his hand. "The Jedi have a plan to help Naruto. Our best course of action is to argue for a stay of execution. Then we will have the Jedi on our side for an appeal." Bail's concession seemed to earn the approval of the other Senators, but Padme stood up in protest.

"By the time this war is over he could well be into his thirties." Padme sighed in frustration as she stormed out of the conference room. Clearly the other Senators weren't interested in helping a true hero of the Republic. Everyone started to split into smaller conversations, eventually the meeting had ended and they began heading back to their offices and personal transports. Bail looked around cautiously, making sure no one was watching him before he slipped silently into a vacant room. Pulling out a small device from under his robes, he activated the transmitter and brought another device to his ears. This was an archaic form of communication, but it wasn't as easily traced and that was a factor Organa needed. Still, he was careful to disguise his voice and use the designated codenames.

"R.D, did you hear everything? I'm afraid I'll be needing your services after all. The plan is approved. Extract the target and bring him to point 3R4-N2. He will be safe from the Chancellor's prying eyes on my homeworld." He spoke into the transmitter before destroying it and pocketing the receiver. Bail turned to the nearby window and reduced the opacity to see the setting sun. He always loved the sunsets on Alderaan the best, but there was something about Coruscant's that was just as charming. Bail turned his thoughts towards the future, realizing that something had to be done to stop the Senate from having all of its power turned over to Palpatine.

 _"The Chancellor's use of emergency powers is getting out of hand. There is no justice in this rushed trial. If I cannot act openly, then I must rebel in the shadows."_

 **Hutt Space**

Boba sighed as he slouched down in the cockpit of Slave I, sitting next to his dad's protege with a small scowl. He'd left Boba alone in the ship again last night and spent it with some redhaired lady. The helmeted man was working on the flight controls as the ship slowly started light off, heading to who knows where. They had been moving planet to planet, system to system doing small jobs.

"Where are we going now?" Boba questioned, already accepting that the ship was now in the posession of this man for now, since he was too inexperienced to flysolo.

"Don't know." The armored bounty hunter responded as the ship flew in space, leaving the planet behind. Boba let out a long sigh as he looked on at the many passing ships. Nar Shaadaa was a hive of scum and villainy with criminals and bounty hunters coming and going hourly. Typically, a bounty hunter would find it easy game hunting bounties on a planet like Nar Shaadaa, but it wasn't. The Hutt's controlled this planet and the Hutt families were powerful. Their influence was so great that even the Republic left them alone. Most of these criminals were protected by the Hutts. The sound of an incoming transmission drew Boba's attention.

 _"A long-distance transmission?"_ Boba thought. A transmission like that usually meant a high-profile mission that paid a lot. The pilot of the ship looks to Boba for a minute accepted the call as a hologram of a hooded figure appeared.

 **Well, that's it for now people! I know this was a short chapter, like really short, but it's an interlude chapter, so it was gonna be small lol. Well, I hope to see you all next chapter! Bye!**


	25. Independence Day

**Hello all! How are you all doing on this fine day? Partying hard? BBQs? Well happy 4** **th** **of July! And to celebrate it I present you this fine chapter! One of our longer ones that you guys seem to enjoy! Now I know some of you will read this chapter and see…Sasuke…yp, and I know you're gonna be pissed, but just read on. Cause he isn't there to take the spotlight. There are actual reasons for him being here. So just keep reading! That's all I ask. With that, I hope you all have a great day and enjoy this chapter!**

 **Grand Convocation Chamber, Coruscant**

Senators and various media groups had filled the Senate Rotunda to capacity on this day in particular. It wasn't every day a high-ranking Jedi General was being put on trial, let alone the General of a whole army and a war hero. Outside the Senate building there were protestors, many of which could claim ancestry from the Mid Rim worlds that Naruto had been fighting to save for the past few months. The Senatorial Guards were not equipped for such a large number of protestors, but they managed to keep the peace through sheer numbers.

"Order!" Mas Amedda called out, silencing everyone as they all turned their attention to the Chancellor. Palpatine cleared his throat as he stood up.

"The trial of Jedi General Naruto Uzumaki shall now proceed!" Amedda announced as Naruto was brought forth on a large pod with two Jedi Temple guards behind him. They weren't the only ones as many other Jedi were watching him from many different locations within the chamber. Master Windu himself was also watching, making sure nothing went wrong and to observe Naruto's behaviors. Despite having passed the sentence to expel him, Windu was still uncertain of Naruto's guilt.

 _"Perhaps through this trial we shall see if he is truly guilty."_ Windu thought as he watched the Senate proceedings with narrowed eyes. Nothing about this situation had felt right to him, and even after testing Naruto - expelling him - even after his first trial, nothing was falling into place except for the fact that Naruto was either the worst and most heartless traitor in Republic history, or that someone was trying to silence him for good.

"Naruto Uzumaki, you are accused of treason against the Galactic Republic and her peoples. You are brought here today, before it's representatives, to stand trial for your crimes. How do you plead." Palpatine questioned Naruto, who looked at him stoically.

"Not guilty." He responded as everyone muttered. Palpatine raised his hand but this failed to quiet the murmurs. Amedda slammed his staff into the floor of his platform, and the echoing thud put a stop to the chatter. Palpatine put on the facade of a sad smile as he brought forth the evidence against the blond, to which Naruto didn't even bat an eye.

 **Onboard the** _ **Spearhead**_

Aboard his personal Star Destroyer, Ross walked through the halls, heading to the hangar bay. What he was about to do, what they were all about to do, would brand them as traitors to the Republic. A brand which had no expiration date. Every single one of them knew the weight of their actions, and they were fine with it. They would rather betray the Republic than their brother-in-arms.

"I assume everything is ready?" Ross questioned as he entered the hanger bay to find King, Blitz, Fang, Flash, Fox, and Stoic, all wearing custom Mandalorian armor of various coloring and design.

"Ready as we'll ever be." King stated before putting on his helmet, with a bold red stripe painted around the visor, as Ross nodded before turning his attention to the bounty hunter.

"Can someone tell me why we're wearing this armor again? I mean don't get me wrong, it's a lot more comfortable than that crap the longnecks gave us, but I'm not the biggest fan of white on durasteel grey. Doesn't match my colorful personality." Fang joked about his dull color scheme. The sloppily painted white streaks looked out of place.

"If you go in wearing your regular armor, the entire Galaxy will immediately know who you are, Coruscant will be on lockdown to prevent other Clones from joining in on your little jailbreak. Also can't go in without a helmet since you all have the same Clone face. So this is the solution. Uzumaki is hero-worshipped on Mandalore, it would make sense that Mandalorian radicals would break him out. No one would bat an eye." Said their hired help from the corner of the hangar. He was standing there with a young boy, about ten years old, that looked just like the younger generations of Clones. Was this the "son" of their father, Jango?

 _"So, he's the one that fought Uzumaki to a standstill?"_ Ross thought as the bounty hunter approached them carrying a state-of-the-art BlasTech EE-26 carbine. Ross couldn't help but think it looked like one of those ancient ballistic rifles, the kind that fired metal projectiles instead of blaster bolts. Guess the company was trying to bring back that retro design. He was wearing the same darkened durasteel-colored Mandalorian armor as everyone else, albeit more heavily painted with dark blue but it had much less plating than the others. The shoulder pauldrons replaced by two bandolier straps, with a thermal detonator and a vibroknife at the ready.

Ross eyed the bounty hunter up and down, revealing more subtle details about the man's customized armor. His arms and legs were almost completely uncovered, with only the wrists and knees being armored, revealing ample amounts of his black bodysuit, as well as the high tensile cinch straps to give him better balance while crouching and two drop-leg sheaths that contained another vibroknife and a modified DT-29 heavy blaster. He was very confident, but well equipped. The belt and holsters around his waist likely held various tools and weapons.

But the feature that drew Ross' attention wasn't his jetpack equipped with a small missile, or the custom vibrosword strapped along the small of his back, it was his helmet. His normally black visor would occasionally glow with a red tint, likely some sort of advanced tactical HUD that probably cost several thousand credits to install. The alternating color meshed eerily with the paint outlining the eyes - a darker, heavier red. Almost the shade of blood. Sharply drawn white triangles followed the outline, giving his masked visage a fierce look, almost like he was staring into your soul. He had other red and white accents throughout his blue and grey armor, and even a strange white and red circular symbol on his back and forehead, but his visor was more intricately detailed than the rest of his outfit combined.

"It's now or never, sir." The bounty hunter stated to his boss respectfully as everyone nodded. Ross wasn't paying for things, but he was put in charge by the Senator that was, which made him a VIP. Ross and the Captains made their final peace with leaving the Republic for good, as there would be no turning back once they boarded Slave I.

"You're coming too? You know it's going to get a little hectic down there." Blitz questioned from behind his subtly but neatly blue-painted armor, but Ross shook his head.

"No, I'll be sitting this one out. I might not slack on my basic training, but the Senatorial Guard is a bit too much for me. I'm going to be stealing my own money back, and for that I need to hack into a financial systems terminal on Coruscant. Just drop me off near the banking sector." Ross stated. After they liberate Naruto they would need money. Ross had that, but the Republic was insistent on keeping it from him until after Naruto's trial.

"That wasn't part of the deal. My only job is to break out Uzumaki, nothing more." The Bounty Hunter protested. Extra work costs extra.

"Your payment was transferred into my account to keep suspicion off of our benefactor. So if you want to get paid, you'd better do as you're told, bounty hunter." Ross commanded fearlessly. The bounty hunter turned around in an instant and Ross could feel him glaring at him intensely through his equally intense red visor. Ross' demeanor quickly changed and the bounty hunter backed off.

"I'd better get paid in full after this, plus an extra five hundred for this little road trip addendum. If not, it's you I'm coming for you next. Bounty hunters don't do anything for free." The Admiral nodded with a slight gulp as the ship slowly lifted before exiting the hanger of the Star Destroyer.

"Operation Lights-out is a go." the green-clad Fox spoke into his transmitter. Toad, in temporary command aboard Ross' Star Destroyer, would now be ready at any given moment. It had a part of its own to play, but for now it would stay on high alert until the time came for it to arrive at Coruscant. When dealing with matters of treason it was better to be over prepared than not prepared enough.

Their destination wasn't far, as Ross had his Star Destroyer move into a nearby system. His reason for redeploying his flagship was simple; maintenance. Given that he was the highest authority in the 10th Army as of now, it was rather simple to pull strings along and see to it that his ship was scheduled for repairs. No flags would be raised if a ship scheduled to arrive just so happened to show up during a high priority jailbreak. They were two completely unrelated events, and that falsehood would be obvious to anyone. At least anyone in the CHDF. They weren't the brightest bunch in the Navy and the dots wouldn't connect until it was too late

Of course they would definitely realize the duplicity when a dozens of Star Destroyers and other smaller ships start to hyperspace in and open fire on the garrison fleet, but by then the planetary shield would be down and Naruto would be safely aboard the _Spearhead_ , ready and waiting to jump into hyperspace.

"Remind me again why he's coming along? He wasn't in the plan." Flash, his armor accented with gold, questioned as he sat in his seat. The bounty hunter turned to the Clones.

"Six guys wasn't enough to break into the Senate building on high alert. We'll need at least seven. Initially I had wanted to get another bounty hunter - you might know him, Cad Bane - to work with us. But given that the target is wanted by most of the Galaxy's criminal underbelly, he declined the offer and my second... third, fourth, fifth... and any and all of my choices went out the window very quickly. So your buddy here is coming along instead. Besides, this means I don't have to share a cut of the take." The bounty hunter stated as Stoic looked at him, well, stoically, behind his armor that was practically smeared head to toe in black paint.

"Why are you helping us if this mission is so unbelievably dangerous?" Stoic questioned. If bounty hunter had wanted the General dead at one point, then why was this man helping them now - when it was the most dangerous time to go after Naruto?

"Because you're paying me almost as much as I've earned in the past year for this job. Besides, if you lot anything as good as I hear, sparky, we'll cut Senate security to ribbons." The bounty hunter responded. Stoic's brow furled in annoyance at his new nickname.

That had better not stick.

He could tell the bounty hunter was telling the truth, though, but Stoic suspected he had other reasons as well. The history between him and Uzumaki was...complicated, to say the least.

 **Ahsoka Scene, With Yoda**

Ahsoka Tano walked the Temple halls with her head hung low. After the debacle in the prison, she had been reprimanded harshly and let off with a stern warning. She felt helpless. Not just because she couldn't get through to Naruto, but because she was bombarded with several visions during her trial on Ilum, and she was hoping to have her many questions answered before everything started to fall apart with Naruto's alleged treason. In their brief meeting, Naruto seemed to recognize the village she saw, but how exactly? Why? And what did these visions mean for her specifically?

If Naruto wouldn't give her any answers, then there was one Jedi who all others turned to in times of confusion.

Grand Master Yoda.

Ahsoka had set a time to meet with him and she was on her way now to seek his guidance. As she stepped into the darkened room, Ahsoka began meditating to pass the time. She had tried reaching out to the Force several times before, but it failed to give her any answers. Instead of continuing to waste effort on it, she meditated on the Force in general. Perhaps it would indirectly answer her questions

"Master Yoda?" She questioned as someone entered the room. Yoda responded with a hum as he walked to his chair. He sat there, meditating like her, something he had been doing a lot since Naruto was expelled from the Order. Naruto was another one of Yoda's students who had supposedly betrayed the Order. It most likely extracted a heavy toll on the old Jedi Master considering his own Padawan, Dooku, had also betrayed the Order.

"Uhh, Master?" Ahsoka asked, but Yoda remained silent. She had hoped that Yoda would give insight to what she had witnessed given that she was having a hard time understanding them herself. But he seemed more distraught than her. She was about to get up and leave him to his privacy, but finally he opened his eyes.

"Questions, do you not have, of the visions you saw in the crystal caves?" Yoda questioned as Ahsoka nodded before she took a seat, cursing her lack of patience.

"Yes…it's about that. I saw...burning villages, war, lots of dead Mandalorians…Well, I don't know if they're Mandalorian, but they were wearing Mandalorian clothing. Anyways, there was a pale-skinned woman with this freaky red eye on her forehead - she looked like a rabbit - at the center of it all." Ahsoka started to go into the details of what she had seen, recalling them as if she was there. Yoda in the meanwhile thought over what she was describing. Had she seen visions of Naruto's home world? If so, what did Mandalorians have to do with it? And who was this woman she was talking about?

"Master Yoda?" He was broken out of his thoughts by Ahsoka once more as she looked at him for answers.

"Visions of the future, they might be. Always in motion is the Force. Seen young Naruto's world, I believe you have. Of Mandalorian descent, are his people." Yoda responded. He did not know if these visions were from the past or the future, nothing was certain with the Force, especially when it involved the blond Jedi.

"Wha- really? Naruto's a Mandalorian?" Ahsoka frowned. She too thought over what Yoda said. So it was Naruto's world, but what about all the carnage and war? Yoda saw the frustrated look on the young Jedi would-be and stood up.

"His determination I see in others from Mandalore." Yoda revealed the truth of Naruto's heritage to Ahsoka. To be honest, he wasn't certain of it himself, but these were the conclusions that Naruto had come to.

"Are you saying his world was like a colony back in the day? When the Mandalorians were still resorting to their conquering ways?" Ahsoka asked another question.

"Likely, this is. Mandalore, had an Empire once, it did. Not near the grandeur of the Republic, but deep into the unknown regions, it could have stretched." Yoda didn't know, the extent of Mandalore's colonies was lost to history.

"I think that this vision must have been of the past then. Naruto told me that his world had computers and television, but the Mandalorians and the other species they were almost completely agrarian.

"Others, you say?"

"Yeah... there were Zabrak and a family of half-Twi'leks. A devaronian or two and even a handful of Nautolans. They were in Mandalorian armor too. It was adjusted to accommodate their, uh, differing physiologies." Ahsoka thought back.

Yoda hummed at that. There were definitely no Zabrak or Twi'lek on the planet when he arrived, but the planet had its share of oddities. Perhaps Naruto's people were not purely Mandalorian. Unless this wasn't Naruto's world, but he didn't want to discard all the progress made here today. It was more important that Ahsoka be calmed and at peace rather than know the whole truth.

"So...who was that woman?"

"Meditate on this, you must. Have an idea, I do not." Yoda washed his hands of the problem. There was nothing he could do for her on that front, causing Ahsoka to raise an eyebrow.

"Then, onto the second vision?" Ahsoka asked, only continuing when Yoda nodded.

"This was of a village with Stone faces carved into the side of a mountain. Naruto seemed to recognize it when, I, uh, spoke to him." Ahsoka scratched her head in a bit of shame.

"His home, this is. Born in this place, he was." Ahsoka's theories were confirmed.

"You've seen it, haven't you? When you went to convince Naruto to join us." Yoda hummed with a nod. "Then this must be from the future. Unless there were more than four faces on the wall when you were there." Ahsoka thought back.

"Leaders of his village, they have been. When young Naruto, I met, four stone faces there were still."

"Then there's still time to save his village before whoever that was destroys it. Master Yoda, do you think that I could go there sometime?" Ahsoka requested, but Yoda shook his head.

"Perhaps, one day, but not now. First, to the Outer Rim you must go. There you will find your new Master." Yoda answered as he started to hobble out of his room. Perhaps strolling the Temple would provide some sort of refreshment. Ahsoka wanted to protest but knew it would be no use. Naruto was most likely going to be convicted by the Senate and could no longer be her Master. Sighing, she too left the room to catch up to him. He had gotten further than she expected for someone using a cane.

"Master Yoda, you never said which planet he was on... or even what his name was." Ahsoka asked.

Yoda merely hummed chipperly in response.

 **Onboard Slave I, Coruscant Lower Levels**

"We're here." the bounty hunter stated as the ship exited out of hyperspace, approaching the capital of the Republic. Everyone put themselves on high alert. The ship quickly made its way to its first destination, the banking sector, to drop off Ross. Ross still had some connections with the paroled members of old pirate crews that he'd subjugated, that gave him the meants to go behind the Republic's back and enter their financial systems without anyone knowing. At least until it was too late.

"I should get the job done fast. Make sure you do yours, men." Ross stated as he was dropped off. Fox nodded; he would see done what they set out to do. Slave I's boarding ramp closed as the ship ascended back into the hectic skyline and began circling around the governance sector, looking for an inconspicuous place to land.

"Whoa, check that out, there are protests all around the Senate building. People really love the General." Fang stated as he looked at the protestors, dissenters, and the news crews trying to get interviews from anybody worth more than a hundred thousand credits.

"That's good. We can use the protesters as a distraction to stealthy insert ourselves into the building." King stated as he pulled out a holodisk and turned it on to slow a hologram of the Senate building.

"The Grand Concourse will be filled with Senate guards and all halls leading to the main chamber will be watched by trained Jedi. Counting the total, there's no less than a hundred Jedi in the Senate building right now. Most of them are just Padawans - rookies at that, but there are a few Knights and, well...Masters Windu and Shaak Ti are overseeing the trial personally." King stated as everyone nodded. Getting in would be easy with a distraction already on hand but getting inside the man chamber would be the real deal.

"That's why we're gonna use the ventilation shafts to get to the top of the chamber before throwing a flash grenade to blind everyone and springing the General out." Fox reminded as the bounty hunter looked at him confused.

"One grenade won't be enough. The Senate Rotunda is a tenth of a kilometer tall. The effective range on those is only about twenty meters." The bounty hunter stated as Fang chuckled. Clearly he was unfamiliar with the tactics of the 497th.

"That's why we brought more than one." Fang stated as he tapped his satchel. He had nearly a dozen in his and Stoic was carrying plenty too. The bounty hunter could only stare at the troopers with a mix of humorous disbelief. These Clones were…unique compared to the others he had encountered. Shaking his head, he set the ship down in one of the deeper levels of the city. From there, they would have to make their way to the Senate building on foot. Their trek did not stop their in-depth discussion of the plan, though.

"Once we're inside the Rotunda, Red will be on Jedi duty with me." the bounty hunter said, gesturing to King. "In particular, we should be watching out for Windu or Ti. The rest of you should only engage the Jedi in groups of two or more. Our first priority is to free Uzumaki and get him a weapon. I'll feel a lot more comfortable about this whole thing once we have him fighting on our side."

"Heh, I do wish Storm was here." Fang lamented, his brother and rival was one tough nut. A Padawan would certainly have some trouble taking him down in close combat.

"Aww, you do care." Flash teased. Fang nudged his elbow pad into Flash's bodysuit, the sharp angle causing him to wince in a moderate amount of pain before continuing the walk forward.

"Eugh, I hate this place." Blitz complained with a masked scowl. He had been to one of these lower levels and they were filled with the scum of the universe. However he shuddered to think what was at the lowest level of this planet-wide city was like, considering there were more than five thousand levels.

"We won't be here for long." Fang stated as he jumped into an airspeeder's driving seat while everyone looked at him as his hand disassembled itself into wires and began to start up the speeder. Finishing the job in just a handful of seconds he looked up at them.

"What?" He questioned them, wondering if something was wrong.

"That speeder belongs to someone, you know." Fang shrugged in response as Stoic jumped onboard with his snarky comment.

"What we're about to do is gonna make us traitors to the Republic for life and your worried about stealing some random speeder?" Fang questioned as King chuckled before he too jumped aboard.

"Well, he's right about that. Let's go!" the Bounty Hunter stated. It was a tight fit, but everyone was secure in the speeder as they set off. They had a job to do and the sooner the better.

 **Coruscant, Lower Levels**

Ross walked around before he reached a small bar located in the lower levels of the city. Entering the bar, he quickly sat down in the of the many vacant seats. He quickly ordered a drink as he looked around before he started to drink. Right behind him someone sat down as well and ordered a drink as well.

"Didn't think you of all people would show up late." Ross heard the man speak as Ross took a sip, keeping his eyes forward.

"Sorry, and obviously I don't have time to catch up. Do you have what I need?" Ross questioned as the man started gulp down his drink as he stood up.

"Yes." The man said as he reached into his pocket and started to leave, but in addition to leaving his bill, he dropped something; a credit chip. "It has a tapeworm program so it's totally untraceable, it'll take them at least a few days to figure it out and by then you should have all that you need." Ross smirked as he grabbed the chip.

"Thanks. Your debt is settled." Ross stated as he finished his drink as well and waited for a few minutes before leaving. He had many contacts throughout the galaxy, people he knew prior to the Clone Wars. Some were old colleagues from his time in the Navy, others were the people he locked up during his time in the Navy. They had talents that he knew he would want to make use of one day, so he conveniently let them get away. Of course, not before getting a full profile on them to use as blackmail for later.

 **Bank of the Core**

Ross wasted no time in walking up to one of the tellers in the bank. This needed to happen before word of Naruto's escape got out. They would probably suspend all financial services

"I would like to make a withdrawal." Ross started as the teller looked up at him from behind her computer as Ross pulled out a credit chip and slide it through the slot in the plasteel. The teller picked up the card and with one look could tell who her client was.

"You know I can't do that, sir. Your accounts are frozen and being monitored." The teller responded in a bit of a frustrated sing-song voice. This was the fifth time Ross had come here in the last week to try and withdraw credits, but Ross smirked and simply pointed at the card.

"Just swipe the card." Ross stated as the teller looked down at the card before swiping it, but all the computer showed was a denied message.

"Like I said, your assets are frozen. This card won't work." The teller stated but Ross only chuckled as he took his card back.

"Don't worry, you already did your part. I'll do the rest" Ross stated as he walked away and exited the bank before heading into a small restaurant and sitting down to begin his work. Pulling out a datapad and combining it with a typing peripheral, he smirked as he saw his plan already in motion. The card she had swiped contained a code that would allow him access to the inner workings of the bank's systems. Now he just had to bypass the last few bits of security and transfer his credits to a private bank not connected to the Republic in a major way.

"Why don't we leave a surprise for some of those pompous Senators as well." Ross stated. He was sure that they wouldn't miss a few million credits from their accounts. Not like it mattered because they probably didn't know where their dirty credits came from anyways.

 _"Let's hope things are going well on the other side."_ Ross stated as he looked at the news broadcast. The trial itself was being heavily guarded, but the Republic had a view of the ongoing proceedings through a broadcasting droid, but people weren't interested in the bureaucracy, so the majority of what they were getting was just the commentator's conjecture of the countless protesters outside the Senate building.

 **Coruscant, Outside the Senate Building**

Things were going as well as they had hoped. They had approached the Senate building without being detected, not like they would have been given that there were protesters everywhere and this was the Capital of the Republic, defended by a whole Fleet, the Senate had full confidence that Coruscant would never be attacked. It hadn't been in one thousand years, why would it now?

"How are we going to get in?" Blitz questioned. For now they had brown robs on as to conceal their weapons and armor, but that wouldn't allow them to get past the security. Fang smirked as he pulled out a small bag.

"With this." Fang stated as Blitz looked at him, confused.

"A bag?" Blitz questioned as Fang chuckled.

"No, with what's inside the bag, ya fool." Fang responded as he opened to reveal about a dozen or so rocks.

"A few stones? Really?" Blitz looked at him, dumbfounded. This was the master plan of the infiltration company captain?

"Look around you. This is a protest. They are a living diversion that we need. We throw some rocks at the guards until they get pissed and start moving on the people. Then the people get pissed and they start throwing stuff themselves and before you know it's an all-out violent protest." Fang said as he picked up a rock and threw it right at one of the guards. Who did nothing initially, but they could see he tensed his hold on his weapon.

"Do it." King ordered as they all began chucking rocks at the guards. Less than a minute later, the guards began to move in. The protestors reacted accordingly with being threatened. Preoccupied by the rioters, guards were lured from their posts within the building in an attempt to suppress the violence, allowing the rogue Captains the time they needed to sneak into the building.

 **Grand Convocation Chamber**

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he glanced around the Senate chambers. Almost any one of these Senators could be the enemy. Nearly any one of them could have staged it all, but why? What would motivate them? Had he wronged them somehow? All he ever did was protect people who couldn't protect themselves. Actually, now that he thought about it, that was probably it. The ultra wealthy made their living off of exploiting those who couldn't protect themselves.

"All the evidence that has been thus far laid out has pointed towards your guilt. Although, one quesiton remains. Why would you betray the Republic? The Jedi? You have nothing to gain by joining the Separatists." Palpatine questioned him as Naruto turned to gaze at the highest-ranking official of the Republic. Could it be that it was Palpatine behind all this?

 _"That's impossible. He sits at the top. If he wanted me gone it would have happened long ago. Someone else is pulling the strings. Someone high in the Republic's military command."_ He thought. While Palpatine was the highest-ranking military official, he wasn't the only candidate. There was only so much an old man in Coruscant can do when there was a galactic war. There was a conspiracy against him, and no one was believe him.

"For the last time; I did not betray the Republic or the Jedi." Naruto responded with the same answer as before. This trial was just being dragged on to make it seem as if it's fair trial. It was all a farce.

"But as the evidence clearly-" Palpatine started by Naruto cut him off.

"The evidence is bullshit. Can't you see? The courts could, why can't all of you? This trial, this war, this is all part of a greater conspiracy to destroy the Republic! To remove me from command and to stall the Republic to prolong the war. Do you know what happens in war? People die. People suffer. People get desperate. They start to look to options they never even considered before. While you sit there and judge me as a traitor to the Republic, its true enemies plot to destroy it from within. Are you so blind as to become a puppet of this enemy, Palpatine?!" Naruto questioned Palpatine, who frowned, but on the inside he was seething with anger.

 _"How dare this upstart boy think that I'm the puppet?! I'll show him who's the puppet!"_ Palpatine thought. He had composed this war. He had orchestrated everything from the shadows. He had killed his Master to achieve what the Sith couldn't for a thousand years. And he was the de facto leader of both the Republic and the Separatist Alliance. _**He**_ was the chessmaster, not the pawn. Sensing the end of the trial was drawing near, Naruto took a moment to speak directly to the broadcasting droid.

"Please listen, people of the Republic, those of you who are experiencing this war firsthand. I've been there, I've seen your struggle throughout the mid and outer rims! This war doesn't need to be yours." Naruto pleaded to the masses, hoping that he could, in his last moments free, at least save some from the fates he had seen across the galaxy. "You're the people, you ultimately get to make the decisions, right? Well, it's time to make the most important decision of your lives. It's time to leave the Republic before it's too late and there's not a shred of democracy left to be had in this festering hellhole that we call a Senate." There was a round of boos from the Core worlds and Corporate sector Senators to no one's surprise. A loud thud echoed throughout the chamber.

" _ **Silence!**_ The accused will not speak unless spoken to by- _**Order!**_ " Mas Amedda attempted to salvage the situation with subsequent calls to order, but it was too late. The Senate was in an uproar, but Naruto felt he had one last bit to say before he was lost in the roar of the crowd.

"Not every Senator is guilty of corruption, but the ones that are are guilty to the greatest degree! There are those within the Senate plotting the downfall of the Republic. The downfall of freedom and democracy. The downfall of the Jedi order and of myself. You can't escape them from within the Republic, but you can escape them outside of it." With that, the Senate descended into total chaos. Mace couldn't help but imagine the situation outside, which he had been informed had turned violent a couple minutes ago.

"That's enough of the charade." Naruto spoke to the Senate one last time. "Just kill me and be done with it." The blond was content that he may have at least saved a handful of people from the conflict. Palpatine paled, but not in fear like Naruto thought, but in rage. Even in defeat, this boy was grating on his last nerves. Oh, he would kill him alright. He would visit him in a very secluded cell and make sure that he knew the true power of the Dark side.

As the trial kept dragging on in part to the efforts of a small, but now extremely vocal minority of Senators farther from the who spoke tales of Naruto's heroism, Mace Windu kept observing Naruto intently. His last outburst had merit, even though it was buried under frustration. Naruto was by all accounts a war hero and the people loved him, if the rioting outside told him anything.

 _"One thing's for sure. I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi. I get the feeling that Naruto is just the first of many."_ He thought as he stroked his chin and looked down over to Shaak Ti, who was conversing with a Jedi - a Besalisk named Pong Krell, if he recalled correctly - who looked trouble and was seeking her council. She had always suspected such a plot after Qui-Gon was killed by Darth Maul and after what Dooku had told Obi-Wan. While Obi-Wan and most others had dismissed it as Dooku playing with their heads, Shaak Ti did not, and now Windu was beginning to feel the same way. The two of them took the Sith threat far more seriously than anyone else on the Council and it was time to start poking around the Senate to see if he could ruffle the spiders from their nests.

"I believe it is time that we come to a decision." Mace was broken out of his thoughts as the Chancellor announced that a verdict was to be passed down. Naruto sighed as he looked up at the Chancellor during the collection of votes. They wouldn't believe him, not one bit. Even if they somehow did, it was definite that the voting machines would be rigged. Someone wanted him gone and it would seem that they would achieve their goal after all.

"General Naruto Uzumaki, for your crimes against the Republic, you have been –" The Chancellor didn't get to finish as a couple dozen metal orbs began to freefall from the ceiling vent. Mace recognized them and immediately moved to cover his eyes, but it was too late. Palpatine sneered in realization when a series of thunderous explosions of bright white light occurred all around the chamber, rendering the entire rotunda blinded and deafened, at least temporarily. Naruto himself was disoriented, but he had seen them coming first and was able to cover his eyes fully. He still couldn't hear like the others, but his vision was mostly unimpaired.

"What's going on?" He questioned despite being unable to listen to his own words. Searching around the room, he looked up to see six figures rappelling down towards him taking aim at the Temple Guards behind him. A seventh equipped with a jetpack landed on the edge of the pod and was surveying the room carefully. Naruto thought that they were the enemy, here to finish him off in a display of dramatic overkill, but to his surprise they didn't attack him.

The one with white paint said something that Naruto's deafened ears only registered as muffles, but he did notice that had a prosthetic arm. Naruto's eyes widened. Realizing who the man in front of him was, he turned to him. Looking at the one in red's weapons, he recognized them immediately as well. For a few seconds, Naruto just looked around the room at the incapacitated Senators, standing silently.

Naruto thought it over quickly, and finally decided that he would not fall victim to the judgement of the corrupt Senate after all. He always knew deep down he still had work left to do. There were still ways to save the Republic.

And this was basically the job offer of a lifetime.

Naruto's eyes locked on who he was certain was King, and he raised his bound arms into the air. King quickly cut his restraints with a swing of his vibroknives.

The Jedi guards were still disoriented, which meant they still had time. Which meant that they had a chance escape. Naruto used the Force to jump from pod to pod, quickly reaching the top levels. He located Master Windu, who had elected to keep Naruto's lightsaber on his person for safekeeping.

That would prove to be a mistake on his part.

Windu had recovered quickly and gotten to his feet just in time to see Naruto jump in front of him and pull the weapon from his belt with the Force. Windu raised his defenses and was ready to block the inevitable Force Push with his Force wall, but it didn't come. Instead, it was Naruto himself who did charging forward. His fist raised to knock out the Jedi Master with brute force rather than the metaphysical one. Mace went to draw his lightsaber almost too quickly. He still had time, and if he reacted quickly enough he could -

Mace suddenly felt everything in the galaxy screaming at him to stop. To not defend himself. Was this the Force? Or was it a result of his own logical conclusions? He didn't have time to answer himself when he felt his consciousness fade away with a dull thud.

Naruto stood over the Korun Jedi Master with his still deactivated weapon in hand. He was somewhat confused, he was certain that Mace was going to raise his defenses in time but it never came to pass. Naruto didn't have time to ponder, so he left his old ally on the floor with four words.

"Forgive me, Master Windu."

Naruto began leaping back down the rotunda, it should have taken much less time than going up, but Naruto ran into an unexpected face on his way down. Her brown hair and eyes. Her simple, but elegant regalia.

It was Senator Padme Amidala. He stared at her for a moment, and she stared back in shock. Naruto chose not to waste any more time dwelling on the past and continued his descent. Padme watched him leave the rotunda at the lowest floor as her dumbfounded look turned into a warm smile.

 **Senate Building, Grand Concourse**

It didn't take long for Jedi and Senate Commandos to quickly react and begin blocking off all the exits and hallways with armed guards.

"Guess we will have to fight our way out." King stated as he pulled out his two twin vibroblades, while everyone else brought out their blasters and Naruto his saber.

"Let's do this." The seventh figure stated as Naruto narrowed his eyes. This was the bounty hunter that he had fought with all those years ago. Shaking his head, he realized that escape was a more pressing matter than getting even. So he turned to the wall of Senate Guards ahead, which were being backed by a Jedi. They began to open fire, but Naruto, who had fought in many battles and many different opponents, easily deflected back as his group returned fire.

"We've got Jedi on our rear!" Blitz shouted. The two Jedi that were assigned to guard Naruto had come to and were intent on not letting their charge go.

"Orders, sir?" King questioned, knowing what he was asking Naruto. Never had they fought against a Jedi. King had trained with Naruto, and they had faced Dark Side disciples, yes, but never Jedi. Naruto couldn't think clearly, but the Bounty hunter made the decision for him as he broke off and leapt back towards the two Jedi. Naruto didn't exactly see him turn around, but he heard the sound of the wind rippling against his loose bodysuit. The blue-armored hunter drew his vibroblade in mid-air and decapitated the two Jedi instantly with one fell swoop of his blade. He jumped to the wall and used it to launch himself back forward to catch up with the rest of the group, the sound of metal grating as he sheathed his blade and took unclipped his rifle from the magnetic loop on his belt.

"What the _**hell?! Daaamn**_ , and I thought I was fast." Flash was beyond impressed with the bounty hunter's speed, he was downright jealous. Naruto braced for the feeling of regret, but it did not come. The Order had abandoned him to the wolves. Why show them mercy now? With that realization, he came to a decision, one that would no doubt have him removed from the Order for good. Turning to King, he muttered the condemning three words.

"Aim to kill." Naruto ordered. He was done with the Order the second they decided to expel him. King nodded in approval as he moved to engage in-combat with the squad blue-armored Senate Commandos ahead, Blitz followed in close pursuit. This was a battle for survival, there was no time for sympathy. Naruto and the others kept moving forward, even after passing the Clone's struggle. The found a group of Senate guards, but this one seems to have been part of the main force outside called back to stop them.

"Naruto." Naruto heard the voice of the bounty hunter behind him to his left, ranging his EE-26. Naruto was curious how he the man knew his name, but figured that King and the others had probably told. Naruto nodded, realizing the bounty hunter's plan as he slowed his advance and switched to a counteroffensive tactic, blocking the barrage of blaster bolts and sending back what he could with a dedicated Form V Shien defense. The bounty hunter's visor turned red as he aimed his rifle and began firing in the limited openings that Naruto provided, hitting his targets dead on through the whirling blue glow of Naruto's blade. The two kept this up as they pushed further and further towards the group until Naruto switched to Form I, cutting down what was left. Just when they relaxed, a Jedi sprung from a hallway and leapt towards them. Naruto ignited his saber to defend, but the Jedi was quickly shot in the head from the side by the one with armor smeared in black.

"That's some fancy shooting for a lowlife bounty hunter like yourself." Naruto recognized the deadeye accuracy and subtle differences in inflection as belonging to Stoic. "I thought I was the best marksmen on this team." Stoic spun his DC-15S back into his holster, and the bounty hunter only replied with a two-fingered salute of respect. He was right to bring along Sparky. Had Naruto defended too hastily, the Jedi just might have switched targets.

At that moment, King and Blitz came up from behind in a blur of grey, red, and blue. A quartet of Jedi stepped out between the two groups and tried to stop them, but they weren't prepared to be met head on by the two Clones. Naruto immediately moved to assist, but was surprised to find that Blitz was holding his own against the youngest, probably a Padawan. Naruto did, however, take the attention of one of the Knights away from King. He was no match for Naruto's superior skills and was quickly disarmed and pushed hard into the wall and knocked unconscious. Naruto looked back to see King blocking the incoming strikes from the two Jedi, a Knight and his Padawan, before he kicked one of them away and used his free blade to finish the other one off.

"Well, if you weren't a traitor before, you definitely are now." Fang stated as Naruto nodded. The Republic would hunt them down for what they do here.

"Come on, lets go." Naruto stated as they all began to move out.

"If we're lucky most of the security forces should be at the Senate Chambers making sure that the Senators are safe. The only resistance we should run into from here out are Planetary Security, Senate Commandos, and maybe a few Jedi. With the chaos outside there shouldn't be much resistance if we just walk out the front door, unless they want to risk firing on civilians and causing a PR nightmare." Blitz said as they all ran towards the closest exit. However as they all turned the corner and found the hallway littered with Jedi and Senate Commandos, likely the primary response team called into to halt their escape.

"Stop them!" One of the Jedi, an elderly Master, shouted as Naruto narrowed his eyes and activated his saber before he began to deflect a barrage of blaster fire before his group began to return fire. Naruto soon locked horns with the aged Jedi, who did not seem to have a high opinion of him.

"Traitor! I-I knew it." The Jedi shouted, but Naruto narrowed his eyes as he pushed the Jedi forward before spinning above him with an advanced Form IV cadence and impaling his saber right through his back. Naruto couldn't see the Master's shock at his quick and easy defeat.

"No longer wanting to fight for a corrupt government that wants me dead for doing my job doesn't make me a traitor." Was all Naruto stated as he pulled the saber out and began to push forward, ready to take out the next Jedi in line. King, Blitz, Fox and the unknown were taking on what Naruto counted as seven Jedi while Flash, Fang, and Stoic saw to the Commandos.

These Jedi were almost laughable, barely able to match the skills of two ex-Clone commandos and a bounty hunter, albeit someone apprenticed to the most renowned bounty hunter in the galaxy. One after another Jedi fell to the battle-hardened Clones. The nameless hunter had taken down three Knights by himself and was working on a fourth. King and Blitz used their impeccable teamwork to down another two, and despite struggling for a bit, Fox 'borrowed' one of the bounty hunter's vibroknives to get a lucky kill on the last one. Naruto was both impressed and upset by the speed at which the Jedi had been dispatched. These Jedi were young, even younger than him, and had probably been promoted from Padawan early to take a more active role in the war.

Naruto turned his attention to the firefight and decided to end it quickly with a massive Force push throwing the Senate commandos into the wall, breaking and bruising ribs with the excessive Force. Naruto didn't think he'd thrown them that hard. That's when he felt a familiar, menacing sensation.

 _"Dammit, Kurama. Quit messing with me. I don't need your help."_ Naruto was getting irritated by Kurama's near constant interference. He wasn't sure how much of the seal was left intact, but it was weakened enough that the Fox's chakra was leaking out almost constantly.

He would have to deal with this before too long.

 **Observation Platform, Senate Rotunda**

Mace Windu rubbed his temple as he groaned. First he was blinded and then Naruto had knocked him out. Which begged the question, why did Naruto knock him out?

"Are you ok?" He heard as he turned around to find Shaak Ti. He nodded as he stood up. She must have been blinded as well.

"If we move now we can stop him." Shaak Ti stated, but Windu stopped her.

"No." Windu stated as Shaak Ti turned to look at him with her hairless eyebrow raised.

"Why?" She questioned. She didn't want to kill Naruto and she would not allow anyone to do that. She was hoping to recapture him herself and find him a safe prison outside of the Republic's prying eyes.

"Naruto didn't kill me when he had the chance." Windu stated. If Naruto did want to kill him, he truly betrayed the order, then he would have done it while he was unconscious and it would have been so easy.

"He's killing our fellow Jedi right now." Shaak Ti reasoned as Mace frowned but sighed.

"In self-defense. Tell all members of the Order to cease engaging in combat and simply stay in pursuit. There are maybe twenty Jedi in the entire order that have a chance of standing up against Naruto, and only... four of them are here on Coruscant. The two of us and the two at the Temple." Windu stated while Shaak Ti looked at him as if he had grown another head.

"But he's escaping from his trail." Shaak Ti would have gone further but Mace raised his hand.

"We both know that this trial is a setup. It's all just a big show. If there is one thing Naruto is right about, it's the enemy within. Someone within the Republic wants to destabilize it and destroy the Jedi. I don't think Dooku was lying to Obi-wan when he said that someone controls the Senate, I think he was trying to get Obi-wan on his side." Windu stated as Shaak Ti frowned. If that was true, then it would mean that such a conspiracy would likely target Naruto, one of the greatest stabilizing Forces in the war. He'd brought nothing but peace and victory to the world's his visited.

"Then what do we do?" She questioned him as Mace closed his eyes.

"Let Naruto go. If we let him go, then whoever is targeting him will have to do it again, and Naruto will elude him as he has before. Eventually, they will misstep and reveal their identity." Mace stated as Shaak Ti frowned at the realization.

"Using him as bait? I don't like that." She voiced her opposition, but it made sense. Whoever it was that wanted Naruto gone was covering their tracks, but with Naruto out and at large they might slip up.

"It's the only way to save Naruto. The only way to protect him from the corruption in the Republic... is to remove him from the Republic entirely." Windu stated and Shaak Ti was taken aback.

"Was this your plan all along?!" She could barely keep her voice to a whisper. She was onboard with the plan, but was aggravated at Master Windu's choice to use an unwitting Naruto. Their enemy wouldn't reveal himself without significant provocation, so they had to set a trap that not even Naruto would knew of.

"Actually, it's my plan as of five minutes ago. Something, I don't know if it was myself or the Force, told me to stand down when I was up against Naruto. But I'm inclined to believe it was the Force telling me to spare Naruto."

"Are you so certain that Naruto would've lost? He did catch you off guard."

"I'm sure it would've at least cost me an arm or an eye, but he's still got a few years to go before he can match me." Windu was not eager to face Naruto in combat, but he could if he had to.

"You sure? He's better than Dooku. This arrogance is unbecoming of you." Shaak Ti teased. That was a trait Windu wished she hadn't picked up from Naruto.

"It doesn't matter who's a match for who, we're all skilled Jedi Masters and if anyone but us tries to face Naruto they'll be leaving here in a bodybag. Give the order to stand down before that happens." Mace Windu urged.

"It's already done. I told them to stand down before I came to wake you." She said with a slightly mocking smile.

Mace was beginning to wish he _**had**_ activated his lightsaber.

 **Grand Concourse, Ground Floor**

Great progress had been made as Naruto had cut through several Senate Commandos on his path to escape and sure enough they were reaching the exit. He was beginning to notice a distinct lack of Jedi, and Jedi had even begun fleeing from him. I guess they had wised up to the difference in skill.

"So, do we have a ride?" Naruto questioned his rescue squad as they kept running.

"That we do." Flash stated as he sped up his pace. He was the first one to exit the building as he charged past the guards, blasting them with efficiency. The sudden attack from behind while the protesters were getting violent, sowed even more chaos and the guards lost all sense of cohesion as they were overwhelmed by the cheering rioters.

"Stun em! Don't let Uzumaki get away." One of the Commandos shouted as they switched their blasters to stun and began firing on the crowd, which only served to further anger the mob, who began to fight the guards on Naruto's behalf. Naruto wasn't exactly happy about it, but he was confident that anyone captured would get maybe a month or two of prison time at most for disorderly conduct.

"Good going, Flash." Fang joked as Flash shrugged his shoulders.

"It was the only way." Flash defended himself as Stoic started up the stolen speeder before zooming away, heading to some of the lower levels.

"Sir, are you ok?" King questioned Naruto, who sighed as he closed his eyes.

"Being locked up in a cell was less than ideal, but I'll manage." Naruto responded, choosing to maneuver around the question. He did not want to talk about the events that led up to all of…this.

"Are we there yet?" Fang questioned Stoic, who nearly ground his teeth into powder.

"If you stay that one more time I'll turn this speeder around and dump your ass on the Senate's front lawn." Stoic snapped back, to which Fang shut his mouth.

"I don't think that's a good idea. We'd probably be shot out of the sky" Blitz stated with a chuckle as all the Clones, minus King, looked at him as if he had grown another head.

"What?" Blitz questioned as Stoic pointed at him from the driver's seat with his thumb.

"The only emotions you know are being a by the book smart ass and that's it. You just chuckled. That has never happened." Stoic answered as Blitz rolled his eyes.

"Following the book has kept us alive." Blitz stated as Fang chuckled.

"Pretty sure what we did wasn't exactly 'following the book'." Fang stated as Blitz opened his mouth but shut it quickly. Fang was right.

"He was like that a lot more during Commando training. Quite the little hell raising rebel back in the day." King commented. He was happy to see his brother start to tear down the walls he put up around him.

 **Grand Concourse, Upper Levels**

Bail Organa was being seen to by a medic, a process he thought unnecessary, but it gave him time to vent his frustrations.

 _"I didn't expect them to use a hundred or so flash grenades to incapacitate everyone in the entire Senate."_ Bail was a bit disgruntled at being mistreated by his _'independent contractors'_ , but then again what did he expect getting help from someone like that. Suddenly, a beeping came from his person. Realizing they must be reporting on Naruto's safety, Bail excused himself to a quiet room away from the walls that had ears.

"R.D.? That was, uh... some rescue, although I have to say I would've appreciated a bit of warning about the flash grenades. Is the target safe?" Bail asked with a smile. He was at least happy that an innocent man had been saved from injustice.

" _ **We... have a bit of a problem**_ **...** "the voice groaned from the communicator.

"What's wrong. Did something happen to Uzumaki? He isn't injured, is he?" Bail asked, slightly worried.

" _ **I wouldn't know... my team never got to him.**_ " At first Bail thought it his ears were still damaged.

"What? How? Didn't you guys just break out?" Bail asked, his slight worry turning into mild panic.

" _ **Nope, that was someone else entirely.**_ " the voice spoke, dejected by their being too slow to act in time.

"You're telling me someone else hired bounty hunters to rescue Uzumaki?" Bail theorized, almost incredulous that two completely unrelated groups were going after the same man on the same day.

" _ **No, I'm telling you that my team doesn't have him and I'm working on it. I have no clue as to anything like that. I'll call you back when I learn more."**_ The connection was cut prematurely.

"No- wait, no. Darahan? Darahan!" Bail spoke as loudly as he could without anyone hearing.

If it wasn't the team he'd hired, then who had just freed Naruto?

 **Coruscant, Lower Levels**

"We're here." Stoic announced as the speeder gently touched down at one of the lower levels where the Republics influence was almost nonexistent. Jumping out of the speeder, they saw Slave I with someone else standing near it. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he readied himself for combat, but his eyes widened to find the person to be Ross.

"Ross? What are you doing here?" Naruto questioned as Ross walked up to the group.

"Why wouldn't I be? I'm the leader of the rescue team." Ross stated as Naruto's eyes widened. He would have never suspected Ross of all people to break him out.

"But why?" Naruto questioned. It was no secret that at many times he and Ross didn't see eye to eye on things and at one-point Naruto had threatened to have him removed from service. Ross sighed as he walked up to the Jedi.

"I loved Siri just as much as you did, even if she loved you more. Regardless, I know that you would never do anything to harm her. I have seen the lengths you would go to keep her safe. I could not allow an innocent man go to prison, or worse. Not for a crime I know he did not commit." Ross stated as Naruto slowly nodded, understanding why Ross did what he did.

"I... thank you, Ross." Naruto was a bit touched. He and Ross had definitely gotten on more friendly terms, but this was a selfless act of...friendship?

"Oh, and the entire Legion has defected from the Republic. They'll be arriving here in a short while to pick us up." Ross casually added, causing Naruto almost trip.

"What?!" Naruto questioned him. What did he mean the whole Legion had defected? To who? What had he missed?

"Well, after your imprisonment, a good lot the 10th Army was not happy to put it lightly. The 497th in particular was up in arms, so they, among others, chose to defect over to your side." Ross stated causing Naruto to look at the Clones.

"But I don't have a side. I didn't exactly leave the Republic voluntarily." Naruto reminded that even if he wanted to go back, he couldn't.

"Sir, are you sure about that? You have about twenty thousand highly trained troops and an ample Fleet at your disposal." King interjected. "If you don't have a side, make one."

"As much as I appreciate everything, you guys do realize that you're all traitors to the Republic? If they catch up to us, they'll kill us. Or at least throw us in prison forever. There won't be a trial for anyone." Naruto questioned them as they all nodded.

"I've no love for the Republic. Hell, I'm just a homegrown experiment that was given a weapon and told to fight a war for a government that paid for my services on Credit, and not even to me." Fang stated his version of the truth casually. He hadn't seen the point or the reason for fighting in this war for a while, he was only along for the ride because Naruto was in charge.

"Sir, we are ready to follow you wherever you go. We are loyal to you first and no one else." King stated. Naruto was quite surprised by the sheer amount of loyalty that his brothers-in-arms were showing him. They were willing to betray the Republic, for him. Not even the Order was willing to stand beside him against the Senate.

"You're blind loyalty was hastily and stupidly misplaced. Thanks...all of you." Naruto stated with a bow of respect. Truly they were the best of the best among their peers.

"This is great and all, but we need to leave before they fully lockdown the planet, and I intend to get paid in full." The bounty hunter broke the moment, causing Naruto to turn to him with narrowed eyes.

"Tell me, why would a bounty hunter that had once fought to kill me and has killed many Jedi's, be willing to break me out of the Senate? You're would pretty much be a target, even within the bounty hunter world." Naruto questioned as the bounty hunter reeled in surprise before realizing he was still wearing his helmet, and there was no way the blond could recognize him. He switched to his native language and spoke.

" _Well, it's because I know you._ " This caused Naruto to widen his eyes. He hadn't heard his native language spoken so... flawlessly since he was a child on his home world. The bounty hunter began to remove his helmet as he reverted to speaking Galactic Basic. "It has been quite a while." Those raven black hair and eyes. His sharp, angular face. And Naruto swore he could recognize his unmodified voice from somewhere.

 _'No way.'_ Naruto thought, in complete denial.

"Long time no see... _usuratonkachi_." This caused Naruto to be even more surprised. Only one person ever called him that.

"No way…" He muttered as he came face to face with someone from his past.

 **Jedi Temple**

Ahsoka wandered the halls of the Temple.

"Ahsoka!" She looked up to find a green skinned Padawan. She was much older and had been a major

"Barriss! Back from patrol duty?" She questioned her friend and fellow Padawan with a smile.

"Ahsoka, haven't you heard?" Bariss questioned her, to which she blinked.

"Heard what?" Ahsoka questioned, wondering what this was about.

"Naruto's been sprung." Ahsoka stared blankly at Barriss for a second

"What?!"

"Apparently a group of bounty hunters wearing Mandalorian armor broke him out during the trial. They killed over twenty Jedi in the break out." Bariss answered. Ahsoka stood still in surprise. Naruto killed Jedi? Naruto broke free? She was horrified by the first set of words, but at the second she smiled. She was definitely shocked that Naruto was responsible for the death of Jedi, but when she thought about it no one really couldn't blame him for defending himself. She wanted to look aghast as the tragedy of so many Jedi and was trying to frown, but she just couldn't help but keep smiling. This resulted in a not so sane-looking grin on her face.

"Why are you smiling?" The Mirialan Padawan called Ahsoka out on her strange behavior. She was somewhat worried that Ahsoka almost looked happy about it. "He killed Jedi. There were a couple of them that were in my group of Younglings. People I've known since birth"

"I know, I know. Sorry, sorry. But you know how I am with Naruto. I just can't help but feel a little happy." Naruto was her friend. Naruto was her family. The familial love she had with Naruto transcended the boundaries of the Order. She didn't care if Naruto was or wasn't a Jedi. That didn't mean she didn't love him like a brother all the same.

"Ahsoka!" Barriss yelled, somewhat offended.

"Sorry, I... Can we just talk about something else? I don't want to go down this rabbit hole any further." Ahsoka replied. She didn't want to upset her friend.

"Alright, what do you want to talk about then?" Barris asked, still a bit peeved.

"Well, I just got my first assignment as a Jedi." Ahsoka proposed, hoping that Barriss would take the bait and be drawn away by her comments about Naruto.

"Assignment?" Bariss questioned with intrigue.

Hook, line, and sinker.

"I've just been assigned to my new Master and I have to go meet with him. But he's not at the Temple right now. I have to go meet him." Ahsoka replied to which Bariss was quite surprised. It was rare that Jedi didn't first meet their Padawans at the Temple.

"So, where is it that you're meeting him... or her? I guess." Barriss

"It's a guy, and he's currently running a blockade on Christophsis."

"Really? Just who is it?" Barriss asked, wanting to know more about this daring Jedi. Ahsoka grinned widely. Barriss would never live this down.

"Well, you might have heard a thing or two about him. He's... pretty famous."

 **Coruscant, Lower Levels**

"Sasuke Uchiha?" Naruto questioned, making sure he was seeing things right. This was someone from his home world, someone he once saw as a rival. What the hell was the stuck-up bastard doing all the way out here?

"Wait a second, you two know each other? Like, more than just from fighting once or twice?" Fang asked, confused by their exchange. Sasuke nodded in confirmation with an almost gleeful smirk.

"What? Surprised to see me?" Sasuke questioned as Naruto nodded. He thought he was the only one from his home world that had managed to leave it, and that was only thanks to Yoda having sensed him in the Force.

"What...when...how?" were the only three disjointed words that came out of Naruto's mouth. Did another Jedi pick him up? No. Impossible. He would have seen him in the Temple. Besides, from what he could tell, Sasuke wasn't Force sensitive.

"Long story short, I stumbled upon a starship. I started messing with it to figure out what it was. accidently and before I knew it I was moving further and further away from our planet." Sasuke answered curtly. He didn't go into the details, but Naruto could figure it out.

"So you ran into a hyperspace capable starship on our planet? Where?" Naruto questioned, wondering exactly where someone could've hidden a ship on their planet without anyone finding it.

"Two thousand." Was his answer. This caused Naruto to blink.

"What?"

"You'll have to pay if you want to hear the long version. Two thousand credits if you want me to tell you where I found the ship.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Naruto deadpanned.

"I don't kid, Naruto, I adult. And adults have bills to pay." Sasuke snapped back, his grin still intact.

"We're paying you a ridiculous sum of money and you don't even have the decency to answer his questions?" King protested.

"I was paid to rescue him, not to answer questions. You want a Q and A session it's gonna cost extra. As far as I'm concerned, you're safe and the mission is done once we get you onboard the Star Destroyer that's in orbit. I'm glad we're getting to catch up, but we're burning oil just standing around here trading questions." All these words and one phrase stuck out to Naruto.

Was this really Sasuke Uchiha? Stuck up, irritable, good for noth- well, good for everything, actually - Sasuke Uchiha? The Sasuke he knew as a child was always talking about revenge and now he seemed like he just didn't care about much of anything.

It didn't matter who Sasuke had become, what mattered was that he was on his side, at least for now. The Republic would be out looking for him, and the Separatist would want him dead. The only space place right now would be his home world, a place that only three people in the Galaxy had even been to his knowledge, and two of them were here.

Not only would his homeworld be safe, he needed to find a way to get Kurama's Chakra under control. The seal had been weakened, so he should probably look for a Fuinjutsu specialist.

"Well, whatever, I guess it doesn't matter. But I do need to use that ship you hadand–" Naruto was cut off as Sasuke raised his hand.

"That ship was scuttled almost a decade ago." Sasuke stated, causing Naruto frown. This would make things…difficult.

"Argh, dammit. Why?" Naruto complained. That would've been a lot easier than the alternatives.

"I needed something to survive on in a brand new world where I couldn't even speak the language. People understand when you show them money and point to something. But thank God I ran into Jango and he was kind enough to teach me Mandalorian from our language, and basic from there. Afterwards, I joined him bounty hunting and things got easier. I mean it sucked staying on that wet hellhole of a rock they called Kamino, but Jango delegated a lot of the smaller jobs to me so I could make my own living. Pretty soon I was tagging along with him for bigger jobs, including working for Dooku." Sasuke was certainly elaborating a lot for someone who wanted to charge money for questions. But there was a certain sentence that Naruto latched onto.

Naruto felt so vindicated right now he almost wanted to hug Sasuke. At least there was one other sane person in the galaxy that hated that dark and gloomy pebble of storms they called a planet. He shook his head, not wanting to get distracted.

"Then the only other ship that has the Nav Data we need for our planet is…Master Yoda's personal transport..." Naruto's speech slowed to a stop as he realized. The Clones were looking at him dumbfounded.

"Please don't tell me we're breaking into the Jedi Temple." Flash spoke up as he looked at everyone's faces.

"We're breaking into the Jedi Temple…" Fang muttered. First the Senate building and now the Jedi Temple? If they managed to pull this off then they would be the most infamous group of traitors in recent galactic history.

"No, _**you're**_ breaking into the Jedi Temple. I did my part. If you're going there that's fine, I'm more than happy to wait in my ship here for you guys to come back." Sasuke stated as he headed towards his ship.

"But what about returning to your old life?" Naruto questioned him. Surly Sasuke had wanted to return to his old life? Sasuke stopped as he turned to look at Naruto.

"Naruto…a lot has changed since we last saw each other. I've traveled the galaxy and the things I have seen are sometimes worse then what had happened to my family. There's nothing for me back home. Here, there's money, fame, excitement, and beautiful ladies of all kinds. I've moved on from life on Ajnin. You should too." Sasuke advised him as Naruto thought over his words.

Wait...what?

" _Azh-nin_?" Naruto questioned. Where in the hell was that?

"Oh, yeah. I got sick of calling it 'my homeworld' so I came up with a name for it. Ajnin. A-J-N-I-N." Sasuke said, scratching the back of his head.

"Isn't that just 'Ninja' backwards? Sounds kinda lame. What about Ibonihs or something?" Naruto suggested. Sasuke thought it over.

"...Isn't _**that**_ just 'Shinobi' backwards?" Sasuke countered.

"Well, yeah, but at least it doesn't sound half as lame as Ajnin. It's like... longer." Naruto pouted at getting found out so easily.

"But I think someone already used that in another fic. Wouldn't want to get called copycats, would we?" Fang said through the crumbling fourth wall **.** Naruto gave up. Ajnin it was.

"Excuse me, Mister Uchiha, was it?" Ross interrupted.

"Call me Sasuke. The Uchiha clan is dead." Sasuke corrected.

"Right...well I've got access to my accounts. I'll pay you extra if you assist us in getting him to...Ajnin. And that would include infiltrating the Temple." Ross spoke up causing Sasuke to sigh before looking at Ross, who was smirking. Now with his assets (and a bit more) firmly under his control, Ross could buy a small armada of warships if he wanted to and still have some left over.

"How much more?" Sasuke asked, tentatively intrigued.

"How much would it take to convince you?" Ross asked.

"Double." Ross did his best to keep his composure. While Sasuke's ask was steep, it wasn't ridiculous. The Jedi Temple was probably the most well defended place in the Galaxy. There were at least a couple hundred Jedi in it at any given time.

"Done." Ross didn't bother haggling, preferring to seal the deal quickly before Sasuke lost interest. Naruto was none the wiser, but the troopers looked at him as if he was insane.

"With respect sir, but his current fee is ridiculous as it is!" Blitz protested. How the hell did Ross think he was going to afford such a price.

"Don't worry, it's not too much for me to pay and not too much of him to ask." Ross assured causing to just look at him. "What? I'm not a poor man." Ross said with a chuckle as he grabbed a datapad and handed it to Naruto.

"Listen, with our recent…activity, and them no doubt noticing that we haven't reached orbit yet, the planetary shield is should be active before we can even make it into orbit, and all vessels entering and leaving the system are probably being stopped and boarded. While you folks go get the Nav Data, I'll figure out a way to have it disabled without them noticing." Ross stated as Naruto nodded. Ross wasn't a combat expert. That was probably why he stayed away from the Senate. Best to keep his distance from the Temple as well.

"Right, then, we have our mission, let's move." Naruto stated as they began to ready up. This task would be just as hard as storming the Senate building.

"Then I'll work on the planetary shield and pick you up in the speeder later." Ross stated as he turned to take the speeder.

"Why bother?" Sasuke asked. "Just take Slave I. We'll take the speeder and ditch it near the Temple" the bounty hunter offered.

"Are you sure? What if I try to steal it. " Ross pondered. He wouldn't, but he was curious why Sasuke was so trusting. The bounty hunter gave a thumbs up of approval.

"I'm positive you won't." Ross wouldn't leave with Naruto or the Clones, and they needed someone to get them out of the Temple. Infiltrating without being detected would be impossible given the Jedi's hightened state of awareness... and Force sense. "Also, if you move the ship too far away from the transponder chip I had implanted in my body, the whole thing will self-destruct. Even if you miraculously survive the explosion, you won't survive the fall." Sasuke said with a grin.

"Yeah... I probably won't steal it then." Ross said nervously.

Naruto nodded at the others as they began to head out. They needed to strike fast and they need to strike now. The entire Senate building was most likely in chaos and there was no doubt that they were being searched for by the entire Planetary Security Force, a dozen or two Jedi, and the Senate Commandos. But this also meant a fair amount of Jedi would probably out and about, leaving the Temple more vulnerable. And no one would expect someone to break into the Senate Building and the Jedi Temple on the same day.

"Hurry it up. I don't get paid by the hour." Sasuke stated as he fired up the speeder for a third road trip.

 **Jedi Temple**

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Flash questioned Fang, who rolled his eyes.

"Will you relax? Cindy here is just as good as any astromech." Fang chuckled as his hand had broken down into small wires, working on the rayshields that protected the ventilation shafts.

"Did you seriously name your prosthetic hand?" Stoic deadpanned.

"Did you seriously name it Cindy?" Fox asked in a bit of disbelief.

"Someone must have felt lonely at night." Flash grinned. "Should be careful Fang, don't want her to get all rusted now, do ya?"

"Shut the hell up." Fang said as he deactivated the shields and removed the cover.

"I have to hand it to you, Fang, I wish my girlfriend was that useful." Naruto joined in the fun.

"We should've left you to rot." Fang spat.

"You would think this place would be more guarded." Stoic spoke up, but Naruto shook his head.

"The Temple hasn't been attacked for a thousand of years. The peace has made the Jedi security complacent and the security lax. After all, a platoon of Jedi is the best security system in the galaxy." Naruto stated. Ever since the escape, he had to focus concealing his presence, lest the Jedi simply follow the massive swell in the Force.

Now that they had created an entry point, they would be able to break into the temple without anyone knowing. Then they would work their way up.

"Once we get to the upper levels. We should probably split up to avoid concentrating too many Jedi in one spot. We're good, but even we'd get overwhelmed." Naruto stated as Fox raised an eyebrow.

"Flash, you're with me. Fox, take Stoic and Fang. Sasuke, take King and Blitz. Our objective is to reach the hangar as quickly and as stealthily as possible, steal the NavData from the ship, and then call Ross and get the hell out of here before someone too badass finds us.

"Alright, lets go." Fang stated as they all began to make their way into the Temple.

 **With Ross**

"Typical." Ross stated as he studied the Security around planet shield generator. From the looks of it the Coruscant security were in charge of the place. They probably didn't even know that he was here, so getting in should be easy.

"Well well well, look who we have here." Ross nearly jumped at the voice behind him as his eyes widened as he turned to look at someone he thought he would never see again. "You know, I'd heard about the infamous 10th Sector Army Admiral. Nothing but praise, so imagine my shock to find out that it was you, Ross." the man stated as Ross narrowed his eyes.

Long, unkempt hair? A sloppily trimmed beard? Dark brown soulless eyes? Reeked of smoke and drug racketeering? Yeah, it was him alright.

"Roll…" Ross muttered as he stared at his older brother, the infamous gang leader Roland Darahan, who had a warm smile on his face that belied his sinister nature. "What are you doing here?" Ross questioned, to which Roland just pursed his lips and shook his head.

"Ooh, that's cold, Rossy. Not even a hello? No 'sorry for abandoning you to rot in prison for a decade?' Oh well, guess you turned out like me more than I would've liked." Roland mocked as he started to slowly walked closer Ross. "You see, I was hired to get that General of yours out of that little…mess…he had gotten himself into. But then some other lot decided to break him out first and now I find you here. Put two and two together and figured that you must be the one in charge of the whole thing. You stole my score. Now, what should I tell my employer?" Roland pulled out a cigar and lit it.

"Should I tell him that he's safe, but we'll be unable to deliver him to the proper location. And only keep the half he's already paid us." Roland began to stroll around Ross, but didn't take his eyes off him for more than a couple seconds. "Should I warn the guards and have them interrogate you until them where Uzumaki is? Then kill them and capture Uzumaki to negotiate a ransom from the Republic." he continued his stroll to the edge of the platform. Roland suddenly spun around with a DL-44 in hand. Ross raised his own pistol in self defense, but didn't fire. "Or should I just kill you here and be done with the whole thing?" Ross gulped as he was frozen in place by fear. Roland was an experienced sharpshooter, he was not.

"What do you want?" Ross questioned as Roland chuckled.

"Would you kindly drop me off on Alderaan?" Roland questioned as he raised an eyebrow.

"No." Ross replied simply as Roland stared at him before bursting into laughter as he walked up and pat Ross on the shoulder.

"Relax, boss Ross. I'll just have to settle for half my payment. There ain't no way I could subdue a Jedi Master and take him from you and yer merry little band. That and stealing a score from the Red-eyed Hunter isn't a good idea in the circles I run with." Roland chuckled before he sighed and closed his eyes. Before he opened them with a menacing look in his eyes and a mad grin on his face.

"Or can I?" Roland questioned as he held his blaster to Ross gut. Ross gulped once more, but again Roland started to laugh and lowered his blaster.

"Relax. I'm not gonna kill ya, not yet anyways. The boys are waiting for me; besides, it'll be easier for you to get into that shield generator than me. So good luck with your little 'adventure', brother. Oh. And just a heads up, little bro. If you _**ever**_ steal my mark again...I _**will**_ kill you." Roland stated as he turned and began walking away. Ross let out a sigh of relief. For a moment he thought he was going to die there.

 _"He probably left me alive just because he wants me to take down the shield generator for him. That's why he came here. Dammit. Even now I'm stuck doing dirty work for that asshole."_ Ross stewed in his thought as he recomposed himself and began to carry out his part of the mission. He would have to put aside his personal feelings, bringing down the shield was all that mattered.

 **Jedi Temple, Sasuke's Group**

The three had split off from the main group and took a different route to the hanger bay. However, as they made their way to the hangar bay, King had something on his mind.

"So, how does the General know you exactly?" King questioned. It was obvious that the two knew each other even before the war. Sasuke kept his eyes straight as they kept sneaking through the Temple. They had plenty of time to talk as they avoided wandering Jedi. They had the element of surprise. There was no way the Jedi would expect Naruto to break back into the temple.

"We used to be in the same academy. Training to be Shinobi; soldiers for our village. He suddenly up and disappeared one day." Sasuke stated as King saw this as a perfect chance to know more about this academy Naruto had once talked about. Naruto had always avoided the topic about his world.

"So what was this academy like?" King questioned, to which Sasuke grunted.

"In a way it's pretty similar to how you and the Clones were trained to fight. Children enroll into the academy at a young age. Then we learn basic subjects: math, linguistics, history, a bit of chemistry and physics to help with using our tools, and how to use and decrypt ciphers. This all alongside proper ninja training before we officially graduate and become Genin, the lowest rank. Provided we past the test given to us by our new Jonin-sensei." Sasuke responded as King hummed at that. King had referred to Naruto as Sensei during their training sessions at his request, but he never knew why. The blond was joking, but so was King when he decided to use the word excessively during their training sessions.

"So what rank were you?" Blitz was curious. He must've been high rank to take down Jedi.

"Well, times turned tough and we lost a lot of good shinobi about... twelve years ago now? I was promoted to Jonin, the highest rank, pretty early. But, I don't think my skills were that much better than some Chunin when I left."

"When you found the ship and came here, you mean?" King asked.

"No, that happened a couple years later..." Sasuke trailed off leaving King confused. He went to ask what he meant but the raven-haired bounty hunter held up a finger. A group of Jedi younglings were walking by and Sasuke wasn't too keen on the prospect of having to kill children. Once they had gone King spoke again.

"The General didn't mention that when he talked about his home world. I mean, uh, Ajnin." Sasuke chuckled at that.

"That's cause he was at the bottom of his class, dead last in academics and practicals." Sasuke replied as King almost tripped.

"Wait, he was the dead last?" King questioned. It was hard to believe that the person he looked up to, the war hero, the man who was known to turn the tide of battles and beloved by billions, was a dead last?

"Yeah. Now that I see him it's hard to believe that he used to be a failure. Guess the Jedi Order did good for him. I might know how to utilize Chakra, but its still no match for his Force ability. Especially when compared to others." Sasuke stated as King raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" King questioned.

"I can see the presence of the Force, even if I can't use it, thanks to my eyes. They're, special, let's just say. I worked with Dooku before the war started, but to compare Dooku and Naruto is a joke. The difference is night and day. Naruto's Force signature is one of the strongest I've seen. It rivals that little old frog that everyone looks up to. It's just not tamed yet." Sasuke stated as King thought over that. Naruto was always trying to perfect and train in his Force abilities, but he always mentioned how difficult it was.

"He has the potential to become one of the strongest beings in this galaxy. I only saw one Jedi on Geonosis that had a potential in the Force surpassing his. If he masters control over the Force...and if he's going home for what I think he's wanting to do..." Sasuke stated as they turned a corner. The three of them came to a halt as someone blocked their path. Sasuke didn't recognize her, but King gulped and was shivering a bit in terror.

"Master Shaak Ti." King muttered as he saw the Jedi Master standing in their path. King drew his vibroblades and Sasuke tossed both of his knives over to Blitz. Shaak Ti narrowed her eyes as she readied her Form II defenses. Windu had said to let Naruto escape, but he didn't say anything about these three.

 _"He's the one that Naruto fought with from Pantora."_ She thought as she activated her lightsaber and watched carefully. She knew that this man was dangerous.

Sasuke moved forward in a flash, drawing his vibroblade faster than the Jedi Master could see. She let the Force guide her defenses and heard the sharp clash of their weapons colliding before realizing that the blue armored man was already in front of her.

Sasuke's visor changed colors to red. Beneath his helmet, his eyes had similarly turned red with three black tomoe circling his pupil.

 **Fox's Group**

Fox's group turned the corner as they realized that they were the nearest group, but before them were two Jedi's who were unaware of the approaching group.

"I'll take em." Fox stated as he pulled out his twin blasters and quickly dispatched the Jedi. They quickly entered the hanger and saw the many Jedi starfighters.

"Which ones Yoda's?" Stoic questioned as Fox looked around, comparing the hologram model of the ship to the one's in the hangar before finding Yoda's personal transport.

"Over there." Fox stated as they quickly ran up to ship. Fang quickly jumped on it before opening the cockpit and started to go through the ship's computer, but he found himself blocked by.

"No good, it's locked. We need the passcode." Fang stated as Fox hummed.

"Can't you hack it?" Fox questioned Fang, who shook his head.

"No, it's missing the Code Cylinder. Without it, the whole ships locked down." Fang stated as Fox nodded before pulling out his transmitter.

"General, the ship needs a Code Cylinder to access NavData history. We need to retrieve it...probably from Master Yoda's chambers." Fox reported, waiting for a response.

 _"Copy that, Flash and I will handle it. We're nearby anyways."_ Naruto replied as Fox was about to confirm, he but was interrupted as two Jedi wandered into the hangar. Noticing the intruders, the older male drew his lightsaber and began to advance while the younger girl ran away, likely to raise the alarm.

"Form up, defensive positions! Take him out!" Fox ordered as Stoic pulled out a heavy blaster and started to fire away, which Fox and Fang providing support. The Jedi never stood a chance as the battle-hardened troopers concentrated their fire on the chest. He couldn't deflect all of the blaster fire and eventually succumb to their barrage.

"Fang, you can hack into their security system right?" Fox asked.

"Cindy and I can hack anything." Fang boasted confidently. Fox resisted the urge to shake his head and kept on task.

"Then get out there and find the central computer, start causing chaos. We don't want the Jedi to converge on this hangar otherwise no one will be able to get through. Stoic, you and I need to defend this ship at all cost." Fox quickly issued the orders as Fang nodded and went to work. While Stoic used his superior physique to start crafting barricades and blocking paths to create choke points. Fox was crafting traps to close off the hangar doors. Nothing too fancy, just claymores with tripwires. They would need to pull out all the stops to halt Jedi. They didn't need to kill them, necessarily, although that was an option. But their goal was just to make them think twice about advancing.

 **Naruto's Group**

Naruto, along with Flash, were making their way down to Master Yoda's room to retrieve his code cylinder.

"Sir…about General Siri…" Flash started as Naruto closed his eyes. Flash was almost like a devoted nephew to Siri's wild aunt personality. The two loved to go fast, be it in a starfighter or an airspeeder, they were both possessed by the need for speed.

"Fox, I..." Naruto began, but Flash took notice of his anguish and interrupted.

"It's not your fault, sir. But please tell me, how…how did she die?" Flash questioned. He wanted to know what happened. Naruto opened his eyes as he looked forward, anger in his eyes.

"She died fighting Grievous. He...impaled her." Naruto answered with slight anger. If he ever saw Grievous he would make him pay, dearly.

"I get it, sir, we'll make him pay. Just promise that I get to be there when you crush his skill with the the Force." Flash responded, endorsing Naruto's desire for revenge. Flash himself swore he would make Grievous pay for what he did..

"I'll be sure to make a point of it." Naruto fumed. The next time he met Grievous he would tear the cyborg limb from limb. Flash even gave him a good idea of how to finish him off. "Anyways, this isn't the time for this, let's get moving." Flash saluted with a 'yes, sir' and the two were off. Their sprint through the halls came to a stop as Naruto tightened his fists. Before them stood his a familiar face... his former Master.

"Master Plo…" Naruto stated, readying his blade. The Kel Dor Jedi was like a father to him and now... the two would have to fight one another. This was not an opponent they could simply bypass.

"I'm surprised that you didn't scramble off planet before they put up the shield. I'm even more shocked to find you here." Plo Koon expressed his surprise. He was sure that by now Naruto was off planet, not at the Jedi Temple of all places.

"I don't want to fight you…" Naruto stated as Plo Koon sighed and stepped aside.

"Well, that's fortunate, because I don't want to fight you either." Plo Koon stated, causing Naruto to be surprised.

"Wha- really?" Naruto questioned him as Plo Koon sighed once more.

"I refuse to believe that you are guilty. Even after the breakout from the Senate building. Capturing you wouldn't do justice. So be on your way. Do what you must." Plo Koon stated as Naruto nodded before he looked at him.

"Then...will you help me against Master Yoda?" Naruto questione. Master Plo was one of the few Jedi that had ever defeated Yoda in a duel, but the old Jedi shook his head.

"I cannot do that. I won't stop you, but I will not aid you. You must face this trial alone, my old Padawan." Plo Koon replied. There was something that was stopping him, and he believed that it was the Force. Clearly there was something that he didn't know or understand, but the Force would not allow him to stop Naruto. He had a far greater destiny and the Force would not allow it to be hindered.

"Thank you, Master Plo." Naruto stated as he and Flash made their way past Plo Koon, leaving the Jedi Master to his own thoughts.

"May the Force be with you, Naruto." Plo Koon stated as he turned to head to his chambers. This was his way of helping his student.

"Well, that went a hell of a lot better than I thought it would." Flash said, finally breathing again. Naruto nodded in relief. If they could avoid a fight then they could save some time, and their lives.

 **Jedi Temple Hangar**

"We've got more of them!" Fox shouted as he kept firing his blaster pistols at the incoming Jedi Temple Guards. Stoic grunted as he leveled his heavy blaster at a few fuel cells he had hidden behind one of the barricades that the Guards have overrunned. The front of the hanger rocked with an explosion as the fuel cells exploded, killing most of the Jedi Temple Guards. Fox in the meantime was engaged in close combat with a Temple Guard. However, once more, the troopers war experience paid off as the Temple Guard was slain.

"These Temple Guards aren't that tough." Stoic stated as he took another one out. The Temple Guards trained regularly, but most of them hadn't fought in a live battle for a very long time. Their lack of experience in dealing with elite clones was costing them victory.

"Where is Fang and what the hell is he doing?" Fox questioned to himself as he kept firing before the ray shields activated, blocking the entrance to the hangar and stopping the Jedi dead in their tracks. "Heh, speak of the devil. I can't believe Fang was smart enough to think of that." Stoic lowered his blasters as he let lose a rare smirk as he walked up to the ray shield.

"Well, what are you gonna do now? Cut through the shield? I'd like to see you try, bastards!" Stoic taunted as he chuckled, causing Fox to shake his head.

"Stop messing around, we need to make sure we're ready when they bring that shield down." Fox stated as Stoic turned around and nodded.

"Copy that." With that, the two began to reorganize their defense.

 **Battle With Shaak Ti Part One**

Lightsaber clashed against metal as Shaak Ti used her expert dueling skills to fend off her three opponents. It was frustrating not knowing their names, but Shaak Ti had nicknamed the two weaker ones Red and Blue because of their armor, while the third she had designated Leader since he seemed to be the one giving orders.

Leader proved the most difficult. He was using a mixture of Shien and Ataru as well as his own unique bladework. It was obvious to her that this was someone who was trained in a homegrown art of the blade from a young age, but had eventually been trained by a Jedi. His skills with them were on the level of a Master, and she was thoroughly impressed. But was confused her was that the man wasn't Force sensitive, well - perhaps mildly, but it wasn't enough to rouse the attention of a passing Jedi. He would never have been taken to the Temple for training. This was a question for later, it was best to focus on the battle.

The two Mandalorians in armor that looked freshly painted were skilled, but not nearly as much as the man she assumed to be their leader. Still, they proved formidable opponents thanks to the imbalanced teams. The Red-painted one seemed to be using the common Jar'kai variant of Form VI Niman, albeit without the Force integration that the style made use of. He had filled in those gaps on his own. It was powerful and would occasionally surprise her, but it wasn't refined in the way true master of the style would be. He needed a few months to perfect his cadences, but he was well on his way to becoming truly dangerous.

However... the one that proved the most annoying was the one painted Blue. He had picked up Form II recently. She could tell by his rougher movements. But what he lacked in grace he made up for in skill. He linked moves in a way that not even she had thought of, it was almost a fusion of Forms II and III with how efficient the cadences were. But something was holding him back. His attacks never seemed to follow through for the kill, they were too careful. At first, this constant caution seemed to be a detriment, but it actually played to his allies' advantage, as Shaak Ti's instincts told her to move to block the follow through, but it often never came, and she ended up leaving herself in a dangerous position that their leader was all too ready to exploit. She was wasting energy correcting her instinctual mistakes, but she couldn't afford to not attempt a block as he might actually follow through with deadly results, and this combination of constant paranoia and a feckless defense was starting to get on her nerves.

Their leader suddenly stepped back, leaving the two underlings to face her alone for a while. She was curious about the red coloring of his visor, but again, she had to focus on the battle in front of her. With the absence of the major player, Shaak Ti quickly took the advantage and went on offense. Pushing the two less experienced bounty hunters back.

"Hey, are you gonna get back in this fight anytime soon or are you taking a full fifteen-minute break?" the Blue one called out to their leader.

"I need just a couple minutes more. Keep her occupied until then, Blue." their leader responded, watching the battle intently. Shaak Ti cursed in her mind as it seemed they were intent to speak to one another using pronouns and armor colors. It would've helped her to call them by name.

"Dammit, I guess we'll do this ourselves... Red!" Blue called out. Seemingly asking for help.

"On it, Blue." Red suddenly threw his vibroknives into the air as the blue tossed his own pair over to Red. Comparing the two, Shaak Ti realized that Red had actually been using what seemed to be custom made shortswords and not the more common combat vibroknives like she thought. Red came at her from the side, using the shorter reach to his advantage. His up close fighting style wasn't better suited to these knives, but it changed the paradigm of his attacks. He was closer and swinging harder, it made her have to completely rethink her defenses.

In the air, Blue had caught the shortswords and pressed the attack. She quickly noted that with the added reach, he was more inclined to follow through on somewhat riskier attacks. Despite their efforts, Shaak Ti adjusted quickly and started pushing them back again. All the while, the third had just been sitting back at rest, watching intently.

Red and Blue continued their combined offensive, regularly trading weapons and switching combat styles in no particular order or pattern. They simply knew when to trade to keep her on edge. They had just traded back to their original weapons when Shaak Ti felt a disturbance in the Force telling her she was in danger.

" _That should be enough..._ " She heard someone mutter. Turning her attention to him, she blocked his opportunistic strike just in time. His offense did not stop, and she began being pushed back by his fluid and precise strikes. Wait a second...

Shien and Ataru weren't fluid nor precise like Soresu or Makashi. But now that she thought about it, he was no longer using Shien or Ataru. Her graceful and unique style of Makashi was being imitated and stolen by his bounty hunter, and he was using it to great effect. Rather than switching styles completely, he had merely incorporated Makashi into his other forms of combat. Shaak Ti found that while she could hold back the three of them before, it was requiring a significant effort just to keep herself from getting overwhelmed. Having noticed the change in her balance, Leader spoke up.

"Blue, get to the hangar. We can handle things here, but they're gonna need your help before long. I'll be needing my knives back, though." Shaak Ti was confused. They should press their advantage and try to defeat her now before she recovered. That is, unless their intention was only to delay her. If that was the case, then... was Naruto here, in the Temple?!

"Yes, sir." Blue tossed the knives over to Leader before taking off down the hall, who caught them in one hand and pushed Shaak Ti back with a strong shove against his blade. Well, that was one advantage physical weapons had over energy ones like lightsabers. Touching them didn't scorch your skin. When Shaak Ti recovered she leapt towards Leader, he blocked using the Makashi techniques he had just copied from her. This irritated Shaak Ti immensely, how rude to just steal someone's style. But then again, this was a lightsaber form made by a Jedi for Jedi. Perhaps she could use that to her advantage.

It required a lot more effort, but Shaak Ti began utilizing the more advanced techniques of her style almost exclusively. The bounty hunter changed his style to keep up, but backed off when Shaak Ti landed a glancing blow on his shoulder. Internally, Sasuke was furious. He had reached the edge of his physical limitations. Even with his Sharingan and boosting his physicality with Chakra, he did not receive premonitions like the Jedi could and couldn't predict Shaak Ti's strikes with complete certainty. He tried to switch between his styles, but Shaak Ti was well trained in all six of the basic forms. She kept things as advanced as possible, and her opponent faltered, learning the hard way that he just wasn't capable of fully mirroring a Jedi.

"It doesn't matter if you know one lightsaber form or a thousand, if you can't use them properly you'll never defeat a Jedi Master." Shaak Ti said triumphantly. Sasuke had realized his mistake too late. His opponent had shifted the balance and she began batting away his defenses with power strikes. Shaak Ti's final power swing should have disarmed the bounty hunter, literally, but it had been stopped by Red with his two vibroswords in a cross guard.

"What, did ya forget about me?" King taunted before running down the hall towards the hangar. King knew that in a one on one he wouldn't last long, but he just needed to distract her for a few seconds. Shaak Ti was frustrated with the constant interruptions, and if she could defeat them now and get to Naruto then maybe she could stop him from being used as bait in Windu's plan. She had only chased after Red for a second when a vibroblade suddenly blocked her path.

The leader had caught up to them in a flash. He was quick, too quick. She fought him off but found he was quick to retreat to a safe distance. When a vibroknife came flying at her, she pieced together his strategy as she ducked. She was surprised when the Force warned her to duck for cover once more as the vibroknife came flying back. That's when she noticed it was attached to a thick wire that the bounty hunter was holding in his hand.

"I suppose it's not a perfect recreation, but let's see how you handle the old kunai on a chain technique." With a few more flourishes of the wire, Sasuke threw the vibroknife and pulled on the wire when Shaak Ti went to block, causing it to veer into the wall and bounce back towards her. Crouching out of the way, Ti swung her saber at the wire passing overhead, but found that it only fizzled briefly.

"Heh, sorry miss, but that's a cortosis weave meant specifically for binding Jedi. A lightsaber isn't gonna cut it in one half-assed swing." Sasuke informed Shaak Ti cursed as she rolled towards her attacker. She went in for a strike, but found the back of her hand cut by the passing knife, nearly forcing her to drop her saber.

"You should really watch out for that, Miss Ti." Red taunted her again. Shaak Ti bore her sharp canines in frustration. What was he sitting all high and mighty for? Not like he was doing much of anything. Okay, so she couldn't go after Leader anymore. Trying to get pass that flying vibroknife in these enclosed halls wasn't going to happen. That left her with only one target and she was more than happy to shut him up. Speeding towards Red, he raised his twin vibroswords in defense but she batted them out of the way and brought down her blue saber for the kill.

 **Jedi Temple, Yoda's Chambers**

"Wait here. Sorry, but this is on a level you're just not ready for." Naruto stated as they finally reached Master Yoda's quarters. The door quickly opened up form him as he entered, leaving Flash behind. Yoda wouldn't miss someone sneaking into his room, especially if he were in them. So Naruto would have to draw Yoda out of his chambers.

"Grand Master." Naruto stated as Yoda opened his eyes.

"Arrived, you have?" Yoda questioned, as Naruto nodded. He knew that Yoda would be waiting for him. There was no point in hiding his presence anymore.

"You know I didn't do it. I would never harm Siri." Naruto stated as his hand hovered over his lightsaber, but Yoda closed his eyes and sighed.

"Believe you I do. But let you go... I cannot. Understand, you do?" Yoda inquired as his eyes opened, glaring at Naruto. His green lightsaber hissed and Naruto quickly activated his own in defense. Yoda leapt into the air with a wild yell, his blade impacting on Naruto's two or three times before pausing on the wall and striking again.

 _"Dammit. His size and fighting style are perfect for such environment."_ Naruto thought to himself as his eyes darted across the room, trying to keep track of Yoda. The little green Grand Master was using Force Valor, and he was using it a lot more effectively than he could. Naruto did his best to lure Yoda towards the door, and he was glad when Yoda followed him outside into the hall.

 _"He's using the Force to boost his physiology and speed to such a high level."_ Naruto gritted as he started to use his own Force Valor ability, but he quickly realized just how far the difference in ability was. Not to mention Yoda's experience was working against Naruto and in a way not possible with beings of a shorter lifespan. Force Sensitive Humans lived to maybe seventy without encountering severe health problems that come with old age, and they would become one with the Force within another three decades.

A few passing Jedi had taken notice of Naruto's duel with Yoda, and stopped to observe it in awe. These were the same Padawans and rookie Knights that were guarding the Senate earlier, they knew that interfering would only end up in someone getting maimed, or worse.

 _"Hurry up, Flash!"_ Naruto thought to himself as he noticed Flash going through Yoda's room as stealthy as possible. He was trying to keep Yoda's attention on him, to give time for Flash to find what he was looking for and find it he did. With there no longer being any need for stealth, Flash ran out the door same the way he had came in, but Yoda noticed Flash and tried to stop him, but Naruto did not let him.

"Guess I got no choice." Naruto muttered to himself as he began to use his unique style and quickly. His speed and power increasing drastically as Yoda began to tire. Despite his ability with Force valor, he _**was**_ still elderly and a prolonged fight against a powerful opponent was very tiring. Yoda realized at that moment that with enough years and experience, Naruto would become an unstoppable force. However, Naruto's unique style had a weakness.

"Dammit…" Naruto huffed as he out distance between him and Yoda. He was also beginning to tire. Keeping the advantage over Yoda's speed required all he could muster. The intertwining blurs of blue and green became impossible for the crowd of Jedi to follow. They could only watch the colorful dance of two Form IV Masters continue.

Yoda felt the strain on his body growing, making it difficult for him to block Naruto's power strikes. Yoda also felt his swings getting heavier, but this wasn't his body telling him to slow down, it was something else trying to stop him.

 _"The Force?"_ Yoda thought as Naruto raised his saber once more to fight, even after exhausting himself with Force Valor. However, he was quickly lifted up and onto someone's back.

"What the?" Naruto said in surprise at the man fireman carrying him through the halls, with the observing Jedi now in close pursuit.

"Sorry sir, but you looked like you were about to fall over and die and we need to get you to the extraction point in one piece." He heard Blitz as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you were heading for the hangar?" Naruto questioned as Blitz's nodded.

"Was, but I had a gut feeling that you'd gotten yourself into trouble , so I made my way here." Blitz's replied as Naruto hummed.

"Good call." Naruto stated as he felt the last bit of strength in his body fade. Yoda meanwhile sighed as he sat down to rest. He was too tired to give chase and was also amazed that Naruto had fought him to a standstill even with the Force hindering him.

"Mysterious, the Force is." Yoda stated as he chuckled slightly.

 **Jedi Temple Hangar**

"Where are they…" Stoic wondered from up in the rafters while watching over the hangar. He was glad that ray shield had held up for so long, and with Fang causing chaos the Jedi had begun to disperse to deal with those supposed attacks on the Temple. Whatever it took, as long as they were too busy to congregate at the hanger bay, but Stoic knew this deception wouldn't last.

"At the very least it's quiet." Fox stated as he kept watch from below, ready to take cover behind a makeshift barricade at a moment's notice. Suddenly, a voice came over their comms channel. It was Flash.

 _"Fang, I've got the code cylinder! We're on our way to the hangar. Lower the shield and get out here now!"_ Flash shouted into their earpieces at Fang as the two Captains stood up as he followed after the too and quickly headed over to Yoda's ship and quickly got to work.

"Stoic!" He looked up to find Flash running towards him. He saw the Jedi waiting at the shielded door turn to face Flash with their lightsabers readied. But Flash didn't stop like they expected, he kept going. Fang, who was observing the Temple's security feed, took that opportunity to lower the shield behind them. Fox and Stoic wasted no time in opening fire on the exposed Jedi. A couple of them turned around to deflect their blasts back at them.

"Flash, what are you doing?! There's too many, get out of here!" Fox yelled at the foolish Captain before ducking. One of his blasts had zoomed right back at him. "This isn't the time for a suicidal charge." Fox shouted from behind cover.

"Heh, it's not suicidal if you're me." Flash picked up his speed and began running towards the side of the hallway. The Jedi moved to intercept, but Flash had taken flight as his boots planted themselves on the walls, turning his forward momentum into upward momentum and sending him soaring over the heads of the Jedi and into the hangar. Now it was a five on three... with the group of five being Jedi. Great.

"I'm here guys!" He looked up to find Fang running towards him with his hand waving before the supposed master of stealth tripped over his own feet, causing Stoic to sweat drop.

 _"What a time to be an airhead."_ Stoic thought as he shook his head before he saw Blitz turning the corner in a rush. At least it would be five on five now, but that's when he noticed what Blitz was running from.

"Uhh...Fang, you'd better hurry!" Stoic shouted as everyone looked up at him and their eyes widened. Running down the hallway was Blitz carrying Naruto and behind them were a large group of angry Jedi Knights intent on stopping them.

"Just give me and Cindy a second." Fang said as he got down to work through the dreadful groans of the other three Captains. The code cylinder was accepted and Fang found the relevant hyperspace routes and began downloading the NavData into the data storage hosted in his cybernetic arm.

"I think it's time to call Ross." Naruto suggested as Blitz sat him down next to the ship to rest. Blitz nodded and got onto the comms channel. Ross shouldn't be too far away, now all they had to do was wait for King and Sasuke.

 **Battle With Shaak Ti Part Two**

Shaak Ti found her weapon impact against the white steel of Sasuke's pristine blade. King had raised his arms in terror, but quickly relaxed when he realized his life was safe.

"Times up. Get to the ship, I'll handle her." Sasuke ordered King, who nodded and quickly went past the two to back up the others in the hangar.

"You should surrender right now." Shaak Ti stated, as she pushed him back. Sasuke smirked at that.

"Not a chance." He replied as he moved in to attack at great speed. It initially caught Shaak Ti off, but he was noticeable slower than Naruto in his bladework. Still, she was put on her backfoot as Sasuke kept pushing forward before she was able to get the hang of things.

"You're almost as good as my former student. _**Almost**_." Shaak Ti taunted as she began to push back, forcing Sasuke on the defense.

 _"I don't even know if it's possible to not compare her to Dooku."_ Sasuke grit his teeth. Shaak Ti and Dooku were both Jedi Masters, but Shaak Ti was the better of the two in some regards. Her swings were calm, precise, and calculated. Dooku, on the other hand, had the power of the dark side.

 _"Guess I'll have to use Chakra. Hope this doesn't reveal too much."_ Sasuke thought as he used his strength and pushed Shaak Ti back before he held his vibroblade in one hand before he started channeling Chakra into his hand, coating it in lightning. Shaak Ti widened her eyes. Was this a Sith in disguise?! No, his martial skills didn't matter. There was no way he was Force sensitive enough to conjure lightning.

Sasuke rushed forward, his hand covered in lighting and moved in for an attack. Shaak Ti in response raised her lightsaber to defend herself, but was left in complete shock when Sasuke opened his lightning clad had latched onto her lightsaber, sending the energy careening through the blade and into the metal handle, where nature took care of the rest.

"Urgh!" Shaak Ti grunted her teeth as she felt the lighting course through her, causing her to buckle over and fall to her knees. Sasuke finished the battle with a powerful kick that he leaned into a little too much. Huffing before sprinting down the hall, Sasuke made a rush for the hangar.

 **In Orbit Over Coruscant**

The Coruscant Home Defense Fleet was pretty self explanitory. A fleet stationed at Coruscant to defend it in case of an attack. It was sizeable, but as Coruscant was so deep in Republic territory, it often had little to do and many of it's ships had been restationed elswhere. Currently, it was quickly busy, making sure no ship got off without being boarded and inspected. There was a traitor on the run, and they would catch him.

"Sir, we have multiple ships dropping out of hyperspace." An officer reported to his superior onboard the _Paladin._ The superior officer turned to his subordinate.

"Friend or foe?" He questioned as the officer looked at his screen.

"Republic, sir." He replied as the superior officer nodded.

"Then there's nothing wrong. They're probably here to stop these upstart protestors" The superior officer wrote off. It was most likely a reinforcing Fleet here to help the CHDF.

 **Onboard the** _ **Fire's Shadow**_

"Sir, we're leaving hyperspace!" An officer reported to Storm, who Ross had placed in command of Naruto's personal Star Destroyer. They had received the reinforcement signal from Toad and the 497th along with the other splinter groups of the 10th Army began to drop out of hyperspace.

"It seems like they don't know our intent. That's good." a Clone reported as Storm nodded and smirked.

"Good. Get us close and ready our turbolasers. We'll cast the die and cause havoc." Storm ordered as the Fleet of Star Destroyers and smaller vessels approached the CHDF before they were being raised by command.

 _"Unidentified Republic Fleet, what is your purpose here?"_ Storm heard over the comms, to which he smirked.

"Well, we are here to liberate." Storm replied with a smile.

 _"Liberate? Liberate what?"_ Was the reply. Storm looked at the weapons officer and nodded.

"Why, liberate our General, Naruto Uzumaki, from the clutches of the Republic, of course. All batteries, open fire! Full broadside!" Storm ordered with a stomp of his new metal leg as the Fleet began to open fire at close range at the unprepared orbiting fleet.

 **Jedi Temple Hangar Bay**

"I've got it!" Fang stated as he finally managed to extract the NavData.

"That's great, but our situation isn't improving! Where the hell is that bounty hunter? He knows we can't leave without him, right?" Fox shouted as the clones continued their barrage of fire at the Jedi, keeping them from advancing further into the hangar as best they could. Naruto was still out of it from his encounter with Yoda, asking him to help in this situation would be dangerous to his health. No sooner did he say that then did Sasuke came running down the hallway from behind the Jedi lines.

"Comin' through, watch your heads!" Sasuke shouted as he activated his jetpack and flew right over the Jedi and rolled right into the hangar, a quick barrage of blaster bolts tagging a few unsuspecting Jedi.

"That's everyone! Now follow my lead!" Naruto shouted as he started to run towards the end of the hangar bay, everyone quickly started to follow him but their enthusiasm stiffened when they realized Naruto wasn't stopping.

"Are you seriously asking us to jump out of the hangar?" Fang questioned.

"I've done it before. Just trust me." Naruto lied as he jumped through the opening and started to freefall along the side of the building. Sasuke was the first to follow, being unintimidated by a long fall thanks to his ninja training... and jetpack. King was next to muster up the courage, which inspired Blitz to follow suit. Flash, Stoic, and Fox took the leap leaving Fang dragging his feet. He silently cursed Naruto before finally plunging out the hangar.

The group was in freefall for a couple seconds before landing on the slanted walls of the temple and sliding down. They had maybe half a minute before they all impacted on the rooftops of the lower levels. Sasuke was the first to adjust and rose to his feet. Naruto got his bearings soon after and started to run down the wall with greater control. The Clones continued sliding, unable to compensate with Chakra like Sasuke, or the Force as with Naruto. Sasuke was the first to see his inbound ship and he flew to it with his jetpack, the loading ramp lowered and Sasuke beckoned the others to hop aboard.

"This is it boys. It's now or never! _**Jump**_!" Naruto shouted as he jumped off the wall and right onto the Slave I. Stoic, Flash and King successfully made the jump, while Fox had to be caught by Naruto and Blitz by Sasuke. Fang reached out with his cybernetic hand and activated the magnetic implants, adhering him firmly to the side of the ship, allowing him to compensate for his slightly more lacking physiology. He climbed towards the ramp when the ship suddenly shook violently. Delta-7s had pursued them out of the Temple and were firing on the ship. Fang completed the climb and the ramp closed as the eight of them took their seats.

"Get this ship going Ross!" Naruto shouted as the ship slowly moved into positioned and quickly shot up into the atmosphere. As the ship left the planet, those onboard could see the battle in orbit raging on as Ross relinquished the pilot's seat to Sasuke, who maneuvered them through the battle.

"There's the _**Spearhead**_. Take us there." Ross stated as Sasuke nodded and started to move the ship towards the _Spearhead's_ hanger bay. Ross pulled out his transmitter and contacted Toad.

"Toad, get the Fleet to ready to jump out the second the docking clamps are in place!" Ross shouted into the transmitter.

 _"We'll be ready sir."_ Toad replied as the ships began to maneuver into position for a jump to the rendezvous point. Slave I evaded incoming fire from the pursuing Jedi expertly before it almost crash landed into the dorsal hanger of the _Spearhead_. Sasuke quickly adjusted his speed and the magnetic clamps were in place in a few seconds

"Now!" Ross shouted into the transmitter as the Spearhead quickly maneuvered into position before it jumped into hyperspace with the rest of the Fleet following soon after.

 **So? Did yh all like it? Me and my Beta/co-writer hopes that it was good. Now I know some of you have questions that you want answers to, but there are just so many of you guys that leave reviews that they all get drowned and I forget who asked what lol. We try to answer your questions though the actual chapter rather than notes regarding this story. So PM me if you have any questions regarding the story. Now some of you may be pissed and will leave a review saying "Oh! Sasuke! I hate him! I don't want to read this story anymore!" and that's fine. It has always been your choice to read a story or not. Naruto will reemerge to the galactic stage after a while seeing as how Kuramas seal is failing and most of you already know how he's gonna do it lol. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! We'll see you later! Bye!**


	26. Homecoming

**Hello there! Look what I bring after long wait A massive chapter! I know, sorry for the long wait! But! Your gonna love this one! Dig has worked tirelessly writing the fighting scenes! I would also like to remind people that our 2** **nd** **anniversary for this story is here and thus we shall have a Q &A on discord! Rules shall be explained there! If you don't have our discord link, here's the code for it tEsYccC. I hope to see you all there! Bye!**

 **Onboard the Fire's Shadow, One Day Later**

The Outer Rim was vast and most times an untamed territory of the galaxy given the distance between it and the galactic core. Which made it a perfect place for a small fleet of Republic turncoats to rendezvous. One by one, Republic cruisers and various support ships exited out of hyperspace before being joined in by Star Destroyers, twelve in total. Some of them had been slightly damaged due to the recent engagement over Coruscant.

"All ships are reporting in." Ross stated as he observed the gathering Fleet. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that he would have expatriated himself from the Republic the way he did. Of course, they would first have to find out if he was part of it. It would take them a while considering he never reported in his return from Eriadu. He still had a few cards to play in that field.

"That's a lot more than I thought there would be…" Naruto muttered. When he was told that many had defected because of him, he didn't think it would be such a large force.

"You give yourself too little credit, Uzumaki." Ross checked the sensors one last time, seeing that a new ship had arrived from hyperspace. Its IFF was registered for diplomatic use. "Follow me, we have someone that would very much like to see you... at least up close this time." Ross stated as he turned to leave the bridge. Naruto raised his eyebrow before he followed after him.

"And who is this person we are supposed to meet?" Naruto questioned, not sure who Ross was talking about, but the ex-Admiral pressed an index finger to his lips, choosing to remain silent. Walking through the hallways, Naruto could see Clones busy about, getting the wounded to the medbays, while others were donning EVA suits to begin emergency repairs to the more critically damaged portions of the superstructure.

 _"They all abandoned the Republic…for me…"_ Naruto thought as he was left speechless during their journey into the bowels of his ship. He hadn't questioned their loyalty or their personal feelings on the matter, but he never thought that people would actually forego their past lives in the Republic for his sake alone.

"We're here." Ross stated as they reached the ventral hangars. Naruto raised an eyebrow as he wondered what they were doing here, there was no one around. Before he could ask though, a shuttle entered the hangar bay and slowly landed before them. The ramp extended to the floor with a hydraulic hiss as guards slowly filed out.

Naruto's eyes widened when he realized these weren't just any guards, but the Pantoran Senatorial Guard. Naruto's eyes widened at that. The guards quickly took up their positions before an elegantly garbed Pantoran strolled down the ramp. Her lavender colored hair was done up in a tight bunch and held together by a golden headdress. It had been some time since their last meeting, but he recognized her amber-gold eyes and face paint very well.

"C-Chuchi?" Naruto's mouth nearly hit the floor as the Senator from Pantora smiled warmly and greeted him with a quick bow.

"It's good to see you again, General, though I wish they were under better circumstances." Chuchi stated formally as Naruto nodded. It had been years since the two had last properly met. He had heard she was elected as Pantora's Senator a few years ago and was pleasantly surprised to see her in passing in the Senate Rotunda, but they'd hardly gotten more a cumulative minute to speak, and never alone.

"Uh, yeah, same. But, uh - what are you doing here?" Naruto was incredulous. What would a Republic Senator be doing here where tens of thousands of traitors to the government were amassing? Chuchi chuckled slightly at his question.

"What, am I not allowed to meet an old friend?" She teased lightly. Dropping her formality.

"Don't get me wrong, it's great to see you again, but..." Naruto was still confused.

"Chuchi here was the financier for our latest operation. She paid for the bounty hunter's services and bought all the equipment we used to free you." Ross explained.

"Seriously? You're the one behind all this? I can't believe you turned against the Republic." Naruto's confusion was now mixed with a slight anger. He didn't want anyone to throw away their lives for him, least of all someone with a promising career like Chuchi. The Pantoran Senator sighed as she walked up to him.

"I'll admit, at first I was skeptical about subverting the justice system of the Republic on personal matters, but I quickly realized that your trial was the true subversion." Chuchi answered, but Naruto only furled his brow in a mix of confusion and embarrassment.

"I'm flattered that you think I'm worth that much, but how did you arrive from 'Naruto is innocent, I will defend him in the Senate' to 'Naruto is innocent, let's hire his troops break him out of prison'?" Naruto asked, still somewhat bewildered.

 **"** Because you're a hero, Naruto. The people adore you because you did not abandon them. You saved Pantora from a grave situation, one filled with greed and corruption. The Pantoran people were furious when they heard about your trial. It was only thanks to my staunch defense that riots were prevented." Chuchi elaborated as Naruto thought about what she had just said. Was he that popular on Pantora?

"It's not just Pantora, either. To the many that have experienced this war first hand, you're one of the few that actually give a damn about the people that the Republic has allowed the exploitation of. You have saved their worlds, protected millions from being dragged into the war. Everywhere you went you have brought peace and stability. Compare that to other Republic forces that are tied down in a neverending war on static fronts, you have pushed the Separatists back and then some." Ross took this opportunity to explain his motives as well. It had taken a massive effort just to gain a few systems of ground during Full Hammer, and the Inner Rim worlds that had seceded surrendered only thanks to Naruto's efforts.

Naruto had always been the one on the offensive and pushing the Separatists back. He had kept liberated systems from falling back into Separatists hands thanks to his consistent deployment of irregular units. Systems that, thanks to his imprisonment, had been deserted and quickly retaken by the Separatists or besieged once more due to the Republic's inability to keep the momentum going in their favor.

"So with that, Admiral Darahan and I have come up with a plan." Chuchi spoke up once more as Naruto turned his attention to her.

"A plan?" Naruto questioned. Just what had been going on while he was inside?

"Running from the Republic will do you no good, and I'm sure you have no plans of siding with the Confederacy. So those here that have chosen your side will have to make a stand." Chuchi explained. It was true, if the Republic really wanted to they would find him. Even if he were to return home forever, the Jedi would sense his presence there eventually.

"I…I don't know…" Naruto stated. As a child people despised him, derided him for being the container of the Fox that had caused so much destruction to the village. But here in the galaxy, there was apparently a number of people he had never even met that were willing to fight and die for him, all in order to keep him out of Republic custody. He was already against the lot of them leaving the Republic just to free him, he definitely wasn't willing to have people die just to keep him safe.

"I know it's difficult, but the choice is yours. People are willing to lay down their life for this cause, myself included." Chuchi proclaimed bravely. She might not be a fighter, but she would gladly fight for Naruto.

"Alright, now I'm not picking up what you're putting down. You said these people wanted to protect me, but you're saying it's for a cause now?" Naruto was still unsure of what she was getting at. Chuchi smiled wistfully, thinking back to Naruto's proclamation yesterday.

"What you said in the Senate was true. Those that are corrupt are shamelessly so to unfathomable extents. It was their excessive taxation of trade routes just to line their own pockets that started this whole war. The Separatist movement is not a rebellion without cause, but it is being misled by the machinations of Dooku and others. The Republic and the Confederacy both need to be saved from themselves. We want you to enter this war on behalf of the people. You're the only person that can unite the Galaxy." Chuchi had laid it all out for him to digest.

"What are you suggesting?" Naruto asked warily, his face showing his slow realization. Unite the Galaxy? That was a much larger cause than he had expected.

"What we're suggesting, Uzumaki... is an alliance of systems dedicated to preserving and reconstructing the old order from the ground up." Ross interjected. Naruto stared at the one eyed Admiral for a moment before returning his eyes to the young Pantoran.

"...and what kind of alliance would that be, Chuchi?" Naruto continued his inquiry, but he was already beginning to understand. Chuchi smiled confidently and wholeheartedly.

"The Alliance to Restore Order and Democracy."

 **Jedi Council Chambers, Coruscant**

The Jedi Council had never been as busy as they were now. The committee of twelve found itself reduced to eleven as Obi-wan had found himself busy on the frontlines and was unable to attend meetings. Thus, he was unaware of the events that had transpired on Coruscant anyways. Adi Gallia had thought it an urgent matter to notify Obi-wan - among the rest of the Jedi scattered across the galaxy, of Naruto's remarkable escape, but the Council had chosen to let someone else deliver that news to him.

Ever since Naruto's breakout and later his break-in of the Jedi Temple had raised the alarm and made the whole Order question the security of the Temple, as well as the led the Senate to grow concerned over the ability of the Jedi to protect the Republic. This was supposed to be the most guarded place in the galaxy. To have it breached by one former Jedi and a bunch of bounty hunters had shattered that illusion. Still, these political squabbles were the least of the council's concerns right now. The most pressing issue was how they should proceed in dealing with Naruto.

To say that the council was divided on the matter would be putting it mildly. Masters Tiin, Koth and Rancisis were calling for Naruto to be hunted down and brought to justice, while Kit Fisto and Plo Koon had both advocated to let him live out the rest of his life in peace. Shaak Ti, to their surprise, had sided with Rancisis and Tiin - albeit for her own personal agenda of hiding Naruto away. Even Piell, Ki Adi Mundi, and Adi Gallia were more passively minded, suggesting that they adopt a policy to arrest Naruto should he be discovered, but not actively track him down. Mace Windu concurred with this opinion, but like with Shaak Ti it was for his own personal reasons. He wanted to drive away Naruto in order to drive out the corrupting force in the Senate.

So far, only Master Yoda, always the pragmatist, had remained silent on the matter.

 _'I don't think it would be wise to let any others onto my plan. Not everyone can be trusted to share my conclusion.'_ Windu thought as he glanced around the room, watching the council continue to bicker. It wasn't that he didn't trust those present in this room, it was just that walls had ears as well and with the Temple so easily breached it was best to stay on the safe side. He looked at Shaak Ti and nodded, having spoken with her before the meeting in order to guarantee her silence on the issue. She knew of his plan and reluctantly agreed to it in order to keep her own agenda hidden. Summoning the full attention of the council, he spoke.

"With Uzumaki at large and the Senate and the Courts questioning us relentlessly, we nevertheless need to denounce Uzumaki as a Jedi." Windu stated as everyone nodded. It was clear that Naruto could never rejoin the order at this point. Even though he had his supporters, it would be a political nightmare if they were to ever let him back into their ranks.

"I'm not sure that the Senate and the Courts will be placated by that. They will question why you ordered us to withdraw our forces." Mundi questioned him. It was true. Windu had out of nowhere ordered a total withdrawal of Jedi forces from the Senate building. From the outside it looked like he was aiding the blond.

"Naruto managed to strike down a dozen Jedi in his escape and even defeated a platoon of Senate commandos in a tenth of an hour. It would have been foolish to send in more Jedi to send to their deaths when they could aid in the war effort. Our goal was for the two of us to catch up to him before he escaped, but those Mandalorian mercenaries proved far more capable than Master Windu and I expected and he esacaped before we could regroup. Let that be our response to these politically driven inquiries. We won't have public officials poking their noses in and interfering in strictly Jedi matters." Shaak Ti laid out the perfect excuse. It was only half fabricated.

"Exactly the issue. If an entire Commando unit couldn't stop him with the aid of Jedi, then what hopes would our Knights have alone? The Senate is fully aware of Uzumaki's capabilities are a combatant, it's why they're treating our small blunder so seriously. Let's not let their hypocrisy distract us from the real issue." Windu questioned and part of him believed that to be true. Naruto was powerful, very powerful. Windu knew that if he fought Naruto, he would win, but it would cost him severely in the process. He almost shuddered at the thought of how powerful the blond would be in just a few years.

"It may be well and all that we have a response for the politicians, but we still need to act. Naruto is out there at large, and we need to bring him in" spoke the hologram of Oppo Rancisis on Saleucami. This caused Windu to frown. For his plan to work the Jedi had to give up on wholeheartedly pursuing Naruto. It would cause him to go into hiding and that is not what he wanted. He knew that Naruto would resurface and when he did his enemies would go after him.

"We don't know where he is. He could be halfway across the galaxy by now." Plo Koon responded and Windu nodded, hiding his approval. It's true, for the time being Naruto could be anywhere. Mace knew Naruto better than most thought, however, and he had a feeling Naruto wasn't going to stay away from the galactic spotlight indefinitely. He would return a greater danger to the mastermind in the Senate.

"Know where he is going, I do." Yoda chimed in. Surprising the rest of the Council

"You do?" Yoda's revelation piqued Shaak Ti's interest greatly. If she could track him down on her own she could give him a safe place to hide out.

"Halfway across the galaxy, he is. But in a direction that most are not familiar with." Yoda started causing Windu's eyes to slightly widen.

The Jedi knowing Naruto's immediate location was _**not**_ part of his plan.

"Well if you know, Master Yoda, then please tell us where." Rancisis questioned as Yoda opened his eyes.

"Without reason, did young Naruto not confront me. To acquire the Navdata of my ship was his purpose. I sense his mission was successful." Yoda hummed in thought.

"So where is he going?" Rancisis pressed Yoda.

"Isolated in the Unknown regions is his home. Difficult to navigate was the way there." Yoda gave his hypothesis. He could be wrong, but the chances were slim. If Naruto wanted to go anywhere else he would just use established hyperspace lanes.

"So he's heading home? Why do that now?" Master Mundi's asked.

"My guess is that it's probably the only place he would feel safe from a Republic pursuit. It's outside of Republic space and is cut off from the rest of galactic civilization." Adi Gallia suggested.

"So just exactly where, Master Yoda... is his homeworld?" Sasesee Tiin asked, interested in hunting down Naruto and bringing him to justice. Yoda looked to the floor for a moment, meditating on the Force. The rest of the Council were confused by his hesitation. After several seconds, he looked to his fellow masters with a concerned look on his face.

"Have a backup of the Nav data, I do. The question is who to send after young Naruto, are we?" Yoda asked the million credit question. The Council members began shooting glances rapidly at one another, but no one said a word for over a minute until finally Plo Koon broke the tense silence.

"This could prove to be a most difficult selection process." the Kel Dor Jedi said what was on everyone's mind. Of the thousands of Jedi in the Order, perhaps a hundred or so were at or near Naruto's level. Of that hundred, only about twenty stood out as Naruto's equal. His brief skirmish with Yoda had suggested it was likely that no one on the Council was his obvious superior in combat.

"I think it would be wise for us to preemptively dismiss Masters Ti, Koon, and Fisto from consideration." Ki Adi Mundi announced. Shaak Ti was about to raise an objection, but was quickly interrupted by Master Rancisis.

"I concur, and I would also add Master Gallia to that list. Naruto knows them and their abilities more than most. Not to mention anyone would find it difficult to face a former friend or Padawan." Windu and Yoda felt their fellow Masters glance upon them. Both of them had lost someone to the Dark Side as a result the Clone Wars.

"I would volunteer myself, but I'm preparing my forces to strike from Ithor. And Saleucami cannot be left unattended so that excludes Master Rancisis." Mundi went through the Masters present but their choices were limited.

"I think it may be wise that we save this debate for a later time. Naruto doesn't pose a significant threat right now." Windu offered. Although a few of the Masters were eager to chase after Naruto, they reluctantly agreed. It would take him some time to safely navigate the unknown regions if he was truly headed that way.

 **Bridge of the Fire's Shadow**

During his time as a Jedi and Republic General, Naruto had wanted to end the war as quickly as possible to prevent the violence from spreading, but it was clear now that whoever was commanding Dooku to start the war was also the one fighting to keep it going on the Republic. Deep down he knew what had to be done. The Republic was infested with greed politicians that were sucking the mid and outer rim worlds dry. People were suffering and the Republic had become incapable of doing anything. It needed to be disposed of. The Senate needed far too many of its members purged for their avarice.

Naruto had been looking at the galactic map for a few minutes in the bridge. Around the table he had gathered Ross, Fox, and Chuchi. Joining them was Toad, the current Captain of the 497th's 3rd Company, and Wiz, Commander of the 68th Legion and the inaugaral Captain of the 3rd Company. If they were hoping to build a State n able to exert military power on a galactic scale, they would need a High Command and a political figure to form a government around.

Naruto, by design, was to be named Head of State and Chief of Operations for the Army for this new Nation. Although he had an average record in planning and strategy, he has a special aptitude for analysis and critical thinking skills that would serve well in both roles that role.

Chuchi, in addition to being the representative of Pantora, would become the new Head of Government. As Secretary General, she would lead what would eventually become a representative advisory body for systems that joined them in the future. She had been a lifelong politician and would serve well in that role until peace had been restored. After the war, she would give up her unitary power for free and fair elections in what they hoped would become a New Galactic Republic.

In addition to the political side of things, Naruto had established a small General Staff that would hopefully expand with time. Ross' position was a no brainer: Admiral of the Navy. Considering their manpower at the moment, it wasn't that much of a promotion. But he was Commanding Officer for their entire Fleet and responsible for its management in regards to all operations, strategy, and resources. Fox, as Naruto's most trusted Commander, would become Supreme Commander of the Army, as well as Deputy Chief of Operations. His duty was to direct their Generals - well, when they chose them - in the field as well, as being responsible for handling military intelligence. Meanwhile, Wiz would take the role as Chief of Strategic Command, a role that included military logistics, long term strategy, and even finance. Wiz had also named Toad as his Deputy Chief to share some of his responsibilities.

"If the plan is to usurp the Republic, then we'll need to gather more support from the galaxy and send a clear message to the Republic and the Separatists." Chuchi opened their meeting with a somewhat obvious dilemma. They had a force of maybe twenty thousand, plus the Pantoran Senatorial Guard that was loyal to Chuchi.

"We need to make a decisive move to show the people that we have not abandoned them." Wiz opened with his primary suggestion. "If we do that, then plenty of systems will start to side with us."

"What about Dac?" Fox suggested a potential first target. Naruto thought about it and at face value it made sense. The two leaders were on opposite sides of the conflict and the planet was likely to become a hotbed for military activity in a short time.

"Mon Cala? I'm not so sure about that. For one, both the Quarren and Mon Calamari have already chosen sides in this war and I don't think that's likely to change. King Kalina is close friends with the Quarren Chieftain and has managed to keep the peace despite their dispute. I think we'd be trying to capitalize on a situation that hasn't yet come." Wiz had more insight into political matters than most Clones and had intended to prepare the 10th Army for the inevitable conflict on Mon Cala, but Yos Kalina had managed to guide his people out of the crisis and into a tentative peace before any serious fighting broke out.

"You're also forgetting our complete lack of equipment. Aquatic environments are an impossibility at this time. We could send, at most, a single regiment. Not something that could make a difference." Ross added. Naruto and Fox conceded their points. Mon Cala wasn't a viable target, at least not at this time.

"I think I know the perfect location where a people's faith has been lost completely." Pressing a few buttons, Ross brought a hologram of a planet before them. Wiz and Chuchi hummed in agreement before Ross continued. "Ryloth has been under occupation by the Separatists for a long time, with the Republic doing nothing to break the siege."

"There's already a resistance force on Ryloth and they're not exactly fans of the Republic. It would be easy to convince their General to join up with us." Fox added. Ryloth was more or less abandoned by the Republic, thus the resentment.

"Not to mention that Taa was highly unpopular even before he left his people to suffer at the hands of the Separatist occupation." Chuchi was well aware of how disliked Taa was among the people of Ryloth, much of all he did was complain about it. Naruto had met Taa in passing a few times and the man was a perfect example of the corruption and decadence that had taken root in the Senate. He grew fat off the work of his people while they starved and suffer from the forces of high taxes. And now, the Separatists.

"Not only that, but Ryloth was fairly anti-Republic before the war due to the unfair taxation and trade restrictions on it by the Republic. They are only part of it because Taa dragged them into it." Wiz reminded.

"So you want us to lift the blockade and liberate Ryloth?" Naruto questioned as Wiz and Ross nodded in agreement with one another.

"They are isolated from the rest of the Republic and it's unlikely that aid will come, at least not for several months. If we can show the galaxy that we can defeat the Separatists then we will get more support." Toad reaffirmed the legitimacy of the plan. Why would they appeal to the Republic that they despise when they could appeal to an unbiased hero that has repeatedly demonstrated his concern for the people and is decisive in choosing to help them?

"Winning hearts and minds, eh?" Fox questioned. It wasn't an old strategy. The Clones would use it to increase Republic support on planets that weren't quite fond of the Republic, like Ryloth.

"Then Ryloth is our target. I will return to the Senate and do what I can to divert attention from there. Here, take this Naruto. This is a direct holocomm to me if you need it. Know that you will always have a supporter in me." Chuchi stated as Naruto slowly nodded before he hugged her, causing her to blush at the close contact.

"Thank you, Chuchi…For everything." Naruto thanked her as thought about his next course of actions. It seems that his choices were limited. The Republic would want his head and the Separatists as well considering how many defeats he had handed to them.

"So we've chosen our target, what now?" Ross questioned Naruto, who closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before he opened his eyes.

"We're not ready, not yet. I... can't leave myself as I am. I think it's time I returned home, at least for the time being." Naruto stated, raising the eyebrows of the others. The seal was failing, he could tell that it was. In letting his anger run free against Grievous he had allowed Kurama to slip more and more of his Chakra in, which had completely thrown off his senses and was affecting the potency of his Force abilities. It was reason enough to return home just to fix this issue, but if he was going to take on the Republic and the CIS at the same time, he would need an edge that no one else could have.

It was time to learn how to properly use Chakra.

Until this point, Naruto had only the most rudimentary principles to go on. Chakra made him faster, stronger, and more agile, but his inexperience meant that its effects were miniscule when compared to the enhancements that Force valor offered. If he could use it properly, even just to the level of the Chunin that used to chase after him for his pranks... it just might put him on the level of someone like Master Yoda.

"How long were you thinking?" Fox asked.

"Unfortunately, it's going to be as long as it takes. Hopefully, I'm not in for too long of a vacation."

"It might take longer than you think. I can see things most people can't, like chakra, and I can tell that yours is pretty messed up." Sasuke said

"Is that why you're going back home. To help fix this chakra problem?" Ross inquired.

"In short, yeah. And if I can learn how to use it properly, I should become a lot stronger too." Naruto clenched his fist, remembering his hard fought stalemate with Yoda. He would need to be able to match Yoda with a lot less effort if he had any hope of starting his own galactic civilization.

"Stronger than you already are? That's no fair. I can barely keep up with you as is." King joked as he entered the bridge. Naruto chuckled briefly before turning to Ross and Wiz, the two biggest brains in the room.

"How long do you think the Ryloth Resistance can maintain its current level of operational integrity?" Naruto asked the two of them, and Wiz spoke first.

"Considering our time frame, I would say maybe three months. Any longer and their grim situation might turn desperate. They might have to appeal to the Republic at that point." Wiz estimated, but Ross shook his head.

"No, not even that long. Ten weeks, maximum. Republic High Command was gearing up for a massive campaign towards Ryloth that was to immediately follow your execution. With Chuchi stalling in the Senate and Confederate opportunists taking advantage of the chaotic situation in the mid rim, it may have bought us a few weeks of time, but eventually the Republic will be the ones liberating the planet."

"So giving about a week for travel time, that gives me sixty days." Naruto surmised. "Ross, Fox, Wiz, I need you to start drafting up invasion plans. As soon as I get back, we launch the operation." Naruto stated as Ross nodded before turning on his heel and heading to the Command Deck, leaving Naruto to his own devices. Turning around, Naruto looked at Sasuke who was lazing around in the corner, definitely listening in.

"Sasuke, I need you to come with me back home." Naruto requested, but Sasuke snorted in response.

"No way, dead last. You have the navdata and a whole fleet at your disposal. Do it yourself." Sasuke's reply elicited a frown from Naruto. The bounty hunter had no plans of going back. Not now, not ever. Only three horrible things could possibly await him there. Prison, death, or a pay cut.

"I doubt anyone there will recognize me or even believe me when I tell them who I am. I need you to back me up. They'll believe you." Naruto tried to reason with Sasuke, but the blond didn't understand his position in the slightest.

"It's more likely that they won't, but I see your point. Having someone to introduce you would be better than nothing. Either way, that's not my problem - it's yours. I am not even going to consider returning to Konoha until I'm ready to die in sixty years or so. And even then, it's probably not my prime destination for where I want to kick the bucket." Sasuke spoke. Naruto felt that there was a lot to unpack there. Why did Sasuke loathe Ajnin so much? It didn't matter right now, what mattered was meeting with the Hokage and finding someone skilled in sealing techniques to help him block out Kurama again.

"Sasuke…someone who I see as a little sister told me of visions she had. Visions about our world. It was in chaos with death everywhere. We need to go back and do what's right." Naruto tried to plead to his empathy, but Sasuke still wasn't having it.

"You can go back and do what's right, I'm plenty satisfied to stay here and do as I want." Sasuke said, leaning back in his chair. Naruto paused for a moment. Sasuke truly was uninterested in events on Ajnin, but the galaxy was leverage Naruto could use. The former Jedi sighed deeply before switching to their native tongue _._

 _"Sasuke, the seal is failing and more of the Nine Tailed Fox's Chakra keep leaking out. It is throwing my connection with the Force off balance and there's no telling if the seal will last much longer."_ Sasuke wasn't the least bit pleased with that development."In short, if you want this galaxy to be saved, I _**need**_ to go back." Naruto urged him as Sasuke sighed.

Once Naruto had left, the Third saw no reason to keep his identity as a Jinchuuriki secret. Sasuke briefly wondered how Naruto knew he was aware of that fact, but then remembered the blond had magic Jedi powers and could read his surface thoughts. Which meant that Naruto also knew that Sasuke thought that releasing the Fox on the galaxy would probably - no, definitely - cause a tremendous amount of destruction. There would be little hope that the galaxy could stop the full power of the Nine Tails and he definitely preferred his galaxy to be intact.

Sasuke saw Naruto's smirk and couldn't help but release a groan he'd been building for the past day with all the talk of Ajnin and his former home. It was the last place he wanted to be.

"Fine, but I'm not setting foot on the surface for more than a day, and you're gonna have to pay me a lot." Sasuke stated as Naruto nodded. He'd grown accustomed to this song and dance by now.

"How much?" Naruto questioned him, but Sasuke shook his head.

"No credits this time. I'm after something else." Sasuke smirked at Naruto's perplexed look. The blond sighed and shrugged.

"Alright, what's the price, mister bounty hunter?" Naruto asked sardonically.

"I just want you to teach me a few things, master Jedi." Sasuke returned the sardonicism in full as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"You know you're not Force sensitive, right? Not enough to use its power, at least." Naruto questioned as Sasuke shook his head.

"I'm not interested in learning how to use your mystical powers, I have plenty of my own. I want you to train me in lightsaber combat, like you did with that Clone in red. One hundred hours of cumulative training. I'll be lenient and give you a six month timeframe." Sasuke responded as Naruto got even more confused.

"You know without the Force those forms would have to be watered-down...and I had to practice for hundreds of hours just to master one form. I don't really see your interest in only four days of training." Naruto pointed out the perceived flaw in his plan, but Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I think you'd be surprised at just how capable I am. I'm strong enough to take you down if I wanted to, Jedi. I don't need your Force when I have these." Sasuke said, pointing to his activated Sharingan.

"I've been meaning to ask you about those freaky eyes of yours man. What is that? Some kind of ninjutsu?" Naruto asked, ignoring Sasuke's arrogance. No way this second-rate Jango Fett wannabe could take him down.

"It's the Sharingan, the Uchiha clan's bloodline dojutsu. It allows me to read my opponents movements like a book, the same way you can predict the future with the Force. It also lets me learn specific movements and commit them to muscle memory instantly. So I know a lot of the cadences for several forms already, but I know nothing about the doctrine of each form. You don't have to so much teach me them but rather teach me how to utilize them. Do that, and I'll take you straight to the Hokage myself." Sasuke responded as Naruto slowly nodded.

"You have yourself a deal, Uchiha." the blond held out his hand. Sasuke outstretched his and took it into his own for a firmer than expected handshake.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Uzumaki." the bounty hunter responded with a smirk.

 **Chancellor's Office, Coruscant**

It was a seldom occurence where the anger of Sidious spilled over into the daily life of Palpatine. The Chancellor was absolutely livid, and many of his sycophants were tucking their tails between their legs and avoiding him as much as possible. Everything that had happened in the past day had thrown the Republic into more chaos than he had bargained for.

Several systems that had held onto claims of neutrality were now openly pledging their loyalty to the Confederacy, having lost faith in a government that would unjustly rush a trial for a man that was - obvious to them - innocent. Even some loyal systems were now openly seceding, unconvinced that the Republic could protect them from the aggression of the Separatists. Sidious was the de facto leader of the Confederacy, but if too many systems sided with them a Republic victory would start to seem less plausible and the war would have to drag on even longer. Not to mention that Dooku was aging, if he were to die prematurely Sidious' stranglehold of control on Gunray and the Council would slowly start to dissipate.

 _"The heart of the Republic under attack, and not by an army! By a bunch of bounty hunters!"_ Sidious thought as he frowned. If a group of bounty hunters can do this, what damage would a Separatist armada do? Sidious had also been made aware of the small fleet from the 10th Army that had dropped out of hyperspace and fired upon the Coruscant Home Fleet in an open effort to free Uzumaki. This blunder would be a good excuse to increase his influence over the Navy, but it didn't change the fact that Clones, conditioned from birth to be absolutely loyal to the Republic, had turned traitor for a single ex-Jedi.

This event had once again brought up the issue known as the Clone Question. The Senate was starting to question the loyalty of the Clones and the Grand Army of the Republic. They had started to question whether the Army and the Clones were loyal to the Republic or to their Generals. Those that were against the use of Clones again up in arms. Some Jedi Master named Kota had been using his own personal militia in protest against the use of Clones. The man must have felt so vindicated once he'd heard the news. It would make additional orders of Clones a much more difficult political task in the future.

Sidious calmed himself and reclaimed his composure once again. No doubt he would seethe on these events again later, but there were orders of business to attend to. Pressing a secret button hidden underneath his desk, the room dimmed and the windows turned opaque. After a few moments, a hologram appeared in the form of one Count Dooku.

 _"What is thy bidding, my Master."_ Dooku started as he kneeled, but Sidious was not in the mood for pleasantries.

"Lord Tyrannus, I am sure you were made aware of Uzumaki's escape?" Sidious questioned him as Dooku nodded.

 _"I'm fairly certain that everyone in the galaxy is. The Separatist Council sees this as an opportunity and wants to renew many of our operations._ " Dooku reported as Sidious gritted his teeth. With the chaos at home, Separatists invasions would add fuel to the fire. If things got too bad there might be calls for his immediate resignation and that _**could not**_ be allowed to happen. The question of the GAR loyalty was in order and more so of the 10th. The entire Republic was now uncertain if they could trust their own military anymore.

"This cannot come to pass. Prevent what invasions you can by convincing them of their foolishness and inform me of those you cannot. In the meantime, I want you to hunt down Uzumaki by any means necessary. I don't care to hear of the cost. Bounty hunters, that assassin of yours - whatever you deem necessary. " Palpatine ordered as Dooku bowed his head.

 _"It will be done, my lord."_ Dooku stated, though the Separatist leader didn't believe that he or anyone he knew could best Uzumaki other then his master at this point. Grievous had managed to match Uzumaki thanks to his cybernetic body, but that advantage would not last forever. The boy had grown too powerful and this trend would continue.

Of course, Dooku would never reveal his feelings on the matter to his master. The hologram shut off as Sidious sat in the dimmed room, his sinister sith eyes ever more pronounced as he thought over everything had transpired. In another life and another time, perhapd there would be no Uzumaki to stand in his path and everything would have gone according to his plans, but there was an Uzumaki, and he had derailed everything he had thrown at him, almost to the point of revealing him as a Sith.

 _"No more."_ Sidious thought. _"No more obstacles will be created by this boy. If he proves a nuisance yet again... I will deal with him myself."_ Sidious threatened the blond in his mind. He would show Uzumaki the ture power of the Dark Side personally.

If only he could sway Skywalker over to his side now...he would prove to be a powerful enough Sith to stomp out the flame that is Uzumaki.

 **Ajnin System, One Week Later**

A lone Star Destroyer dropped out of Hyperspace. This was Naruto's flagship, the _Fire's Shadow_ , named after a rough translation of his dream position of Hokage. He had it modified to suit his needs throughout the war, but other than downsizing the heavy turbolasers and adding additional point defense systems, it wasn't much different from a standard Venator. Within it's enlarged ventral hangar, things had begun to move quickly.

"What do you think the General's homeworld looks like?" Storm questioned as he checked his weapon. He along with others were selected to head on down with Naruto.

"I don't know, but from what he did talk about it we better be ready. Who knows what kind of superpowered assassins are waiting for us down there." Fang responded as he checked his cloaking device. For a very long time his company had been testing the cloaking armor meant for Clones specializing in assassinations. It was a good thing they still had them in working order. He expected it to come in handy given what they were supposed to face down there.

"Are you two ready?" The two jumped as they turned to face Stoic looking at them with his blank face.

"Stoic, for the last time stop doing that!" Storm shouted as Stoic raised an eyebrow.

"Doing what?" He questioned him as Storm gritted his teeth.

"That!" He shouted, pointing at Stoic, who only shrugged and turned to leave.

"Everything's all set. All members of the expedition are to head to bay fourteen." Stoic told them as the two quickly followed after him, not wanting to be left behind. The trip to the hangar was short and true enough the rest were waiting for them. The team consisted of the usual suspects - King, Fang, Flash, Stoic, Blitz, and Storm - who insisted on coming along this time despite his injuries. These six were considered the greatest combatants in the 10th Army.

"You're sure you don't need me to come along? Uchiha seems to think you're underestimating the number of hostiles." Fox was walking alongside Naruto and Ross.

"As much as I'd love to have you right there alongside me, you're more than just a General now. You're part of my High Command, and I need you up here more than I do on the frontlines. Don't get me wrong, Ross is smart and Wiz and Toad are great strategists but they don't know the troops like you or I do. They're going to need your help planning the battle on Ryloth. And if things don't work out as planned and I'm stuck here longer than expected, they'll need a General who can lead the whole army besides me."

"Don't go saying that. I can't lead this whole thing by myself. You're the one that inspires everyone." Fox said, somewhere between fearful and embarrassed. He was definitely not ready to command an entire invasion op without Naruto to guide him.

"Well then you know what you need to get better at in order to improve." the blond General countered.

"I guess so. Good luck down there, General." Fox wished Naruto well as the engines of _Slave I_ began to start up.

"Will do. Oh, and until I return, Fox, the Fire's Shadow is yours." Naruto bequeathed command of his flagship to who would have to be his most trusted General.

"I'll take good care of it." Fox promised with a smile.

"You'd better, or it's your ass when I return." Naruto got one last word in before the boarding ramp retracted fully and the doors sealed.

"Alright, let's get on with it already. I want to get off his rock as soon as possible. I'm not looking forward to being " Sasuke stated. This was the last place he wanted to be - too many bad memories - but a deal was a deal. Naruto sighed as _Slave I_ launched from the ventral hangar.

"Take us down Sasuke." Naruto stated as Sasuke waved his hand as _Slave I_ careened towards Ajnin's surface, which wasn't far considering that the ship was already in orbit. Naruto turned to look back as the _Fire's Shadow_ finished it's maneuver and jumped back into hyperspace towards Ryloth. _Slave I_ broke through the atmosphere as a sea of trees became visible.

"Forests? Well, this should be fun." Storm commented as he tapped his blaster. This was Environmental Training 101. Forest biomes were easy pickings for elite Clones like them.

"Should be over there. Slow down Sasuke, or we're gonna miss it." Naruto pointed as _Slave I_ completely skimmed over the treetops towards what Naruto had presumed was Sasuke's destination. But the onyx haired bounty hunter didn't slow down, and Naruto realized why when the village came into view.

Or rather... the ruins of what was once the Leaf Village known as Konoha came into view.

The blond's eyes slowly widened as he saw the destruction before him. Buildings had been utterly destroyed with entire neighborhoods in ruins and craters littering what was once the bustling streets. The stone heads of the third and fourth Hokage had both been completely destroyed with an almost malicious intent. Before he could get a good look, Sasuke had sped overhead to the North, heading deep into the forests of the Land of Fire.

"Sasuke…what happened?" Naruto questioned him, but Sasuke didn't respond.

Perhaps it was simply because he didn't want to?

Nonetheless, the curiosity was firmly implanted in Naruto's mind. Who would do such a thing to the village, and how did it happen? There was no way they were attacked by an enemy nation, the Daimyo would've ordered their surrender long before any hostile forces reached Konoha proper so there couldn't have been a war between villages that happened in his absence...unless Konoha was taken by surprise.

"We're approaching the LZ." Sasuke announced as the ship flew over a clearing in the forest to a large terraced mountain before it slowly started to land near the building at it's peak.

"And where exactly are we?" Fox questioned him.

"It's the Uchiha family stronghold. Every member of the clan knows of this place as our ancestral home. And... this was where I found the ship that took me off planet. " Sasuke started as he approached the building he reached for a device that he had put together from scraps in the cargo hold of the _Fire's Shadow_. Sending a _**very**_ old fashioned radio wave transmission, a portion of the rocky terrace began to slide open, revealing that the structure was significantly larger than one would expect. Suddenly, Sasuke piqued up at something Naruto didn't see.

"Darn, I let it slip. Guess I'm not getting that two thousand. That was a dirty trick, Uzumaki." Sasuke said as he situated his helmet back onto his head. He was joking if only to forget everything he remembered. Remembered as if it had happened yesterday. The ship pulled into the side of the mountain and jerked as the ramp touched ground and the door slowly slid open, letting everyone file out. They descended the mountain and arrived at the forest floor quicker than Naruto had expected of Sasuke, who had been dragging his feet for the past week. He guessed that the Uchiha wanted to get off of Ajnin as soon as possible.

"Thermal visors up, everyone." King ordered as the Clones tapped a button on their visors in unison to better see through the thick forest. While the Clones were having a simply enough time seeing around them, Naruto felt a wave of energy overwhelm him. His Force senses already wonky due to the overflow of Kurama's chakra, but this was something he'd never come close to feeling before. It was like he was drowning in a sea of midi-chlorians.

"It feels as if this forest is…alive…" Naruto said to himself as he could feel everything. Usually he would feel this sensation only when he used his battle mediation, but everything around him seemed to be teeming with the Force.

"It was said that the first Hokage used his own kekkei genkai to create this forest. Maybe he was a Jedi, who knows?" Sasuke joked. Naruto knew that was unlikely, but the Clones were staring at the armored Uchiha as if he were insane.

"You're tell us that some guy created this forest? From nothing?" Fang questioned him as Sasuke hesitantly shrugged.

"Well, not from nothing, but that's pretty much the idea." Sasuke skipped the intricate details.

"I would believe that considering the fourth managed to defeat a whole army on his own at Kannabi Bridge." Naruto added, remembering the stories of his favorite Hokage. The man who he still looked up to today.

"We should get moving. The sooner we find the Shinobi Alliance hideout the better." Sasuke stated as Naruto looked at him, confused.

"Shinobi Alliance? What's that?" Naruto questioned once more as Sasuke frowned. Naruto was gonna find out sooner or later, so he might as well tell him now.

"The Shinobi Alliance is an alliance between Kumo, Konoha, and the Suna Resistance. Formed to take down Orochimaru and the Akatsuki organization." Sasuke

"Weren't Konoha and Kumo major rivals constantly at each others throats? I wasn't around very long and even I remember that there was bad blood between the two. And Suna Resistance? What happened to the village? I know they were the weakest next to Kiri, but..." Naruto had so many questions.

"There was - actually it's more likely that there still is - a war going on. Konoha village was destroyed, not to mention countless others. The whole Land of Fire was turned into a war zone that was split between the warring factions. That's why the Shinobi Alliance was created between Kumo and the survivors of Konoha, to fight against a common enemy. After Orochimaru betrayed his alliance and decimated Suna, the sixth Kazekage begged and pleaded for the Alliance to rescue them from total annihilation. The Alliance Council heard her out and agreed to take them in. What's left of Suna was only a few thousand people. They didn't have a Sannin or a real Kage to defend them." Sasuke stated as the group began to head out into the forest.

"Suna's on their sixth Kazekage already? What happened to the fourth and fifth?"

"Both were killed by Orochimaru. Rasa was assassinated and Baki was really only a Kage out of a necessity for a leader, he wasn't anywhere near the Snake's level." Sasuke said grimly. Two kages killed by Orochimaru.

"Where do Kiri and Iwa fit in all this?" Naruto asked.

"When I left, Kiri had started to fall under the banner of Akatsuki. As for Iwa, they claimed complete neutrality. It wasn't surprising. Onoki, the third Tsuchikage, is a stubborn fence-sitting ox and stuff like that happens when your ally Kumo and your enemy Konoha form an Alliance. The smaller villages like Kusa and Ame either joined the Alliance or the Akatsuki."

"So who exactly is this Orochimaru, and what's this Akatsuki you keep talking about?" Naruto kept laying on the questions as they trekked through the forest, continuing North.

"Orochimaru was one of the three pupils of the third Hokage, you dumbass. He's one of the legendary three sannin." Naruto was confused at the term sannin, but didn't press the issue, he was curious about other things.

"And the Akatsuki? What's their deal?" Naruto was curious. 'Red Dawn' was about as cliche a name for a secret organization or cult that you could get.

"I don't know much about Akatsuki, they only really came to power about a year before I left. All I know is that their leaders - the nine at the top - they're powerful. Crazy powerful. Each one of them is said to be able to challenge a Kage, and some are even stronger than that. But the most important thing is that - for some reason - they don't like Orochimaru and he doesn't like them."

"So they're each other fighting too? Great, then it's a war on two fronts for everyone." Naruto sighed. He was beginning to regret coming to aid Konoha, even if it was in exchange for some Chakra training. There was no way it would be worth this much effort.

"The conflict between the two of them is probably the only thing keeping the Alliance alive right now. I remember we were fighting tooth and nail just to hold back Orochimaru from complete dominance for the first few years, and then Akatsuki came into the spotlight and everything suddenly ground to a halt. The Land of Fire is pretty much split in two between Orochimaru in the East and Akatsuki in the Southwest, although the Alliance managed to liberate some of the northern territories just before I left. The Uchiha hideout was supposed to be the rendezvous point for their new base of operations, but it looks like they didn't make it that far considering we haven't run into them."

"So then where exactly is their current base of operations?" Blitz's interrupted Naruto's parade of questions.

"I knew of one before I took my…leave. So we're heading there now. Should be about a half day hike." Sasuke replied as everyone looked at him, causing him to look at them.

"Wait, what?" King questioned as Sasuke stared back, confused.

"You didn't consider that they moved it in the - what was it - ten years that you've been gone off in space?" Stoic questioned as Sasuke stopped and thought about it before he started to walk again.

"When I left the Alliance was in pretty good shape, Orochimaru hadn't launched an offensive against them in over a year because it was too fortified on his front. " Sasuke muttered as Naruto sighed.

"It doesn't matter. We're bound to find some clues there at least. Maybe we can find out where they've gone" Naruto stated as he followed after him. The group walked for what seemed like hours, but it wasn't a big deal for then. Naruto was a highly trained Jedi and a general and the Clones were bred for this. They could go on for days without needing a prolonged rest.

"Sir, I've got movement." King spoke up as everyone stopped and readied their weapons. King looked through his thermal visors and spotted multiple signatures ahead of them.

"Form up. Maybe Sasuke wasn't off after all." Naruto ordered as the Clones closed their ranks. King and Blitz were on point, while Stoic and Storm brought up the rear. Naruto and Sasuke were also on alert, with Naruto ready to activate his saber and Sasuke's vibroblade already drawn.

"I've got them in my sights." Storm stated, more signatures, but they were further away.

"Here as well." Flash also stated. Naruto narrowed his eyes. They were surrounded it seems as they waited in the small forest clearing for what seemed like a couple of minutes.

"Orders, sir?" Fox questioned as their fingers rested on the triggers of their blaster.

"Just give the word and we'll blast this whole forest down." Storm offered with a chuckle as Fang shook his head.

"Not all our problems can be solved by...Nevermind, the point is we don't know if these are hostiles." Fang stated as he kept his focuses.

"Whatever their intent, it isn't to have a picnic." Flash reprimanded them.

" _Show yourself_." Naruto called out in his native tongue. The Clones trained their sights on their targets. There were eight of them but only one ended up moving at Naruto's urging. Out of the forest landed a single man wearing the same old Konoha flak jacket that Naruto remembered from his time being chased by Chunin as a kid. The typical blue shinobi shirt was replaced by a loose-fitting variant with short sleeves, the one that was typically used when venturing into tropical or desert climates. The man looked to be around his late 30s, his unkempt hair was charcoal black and almost reached his shoulders. Most importantly, he wore his headband tied around his upper arm just below the sleeve, but Naruto didn't recognize the engraving. It was a logogram that he couldn't make out from this distance, but it definitely wasn't the Leaf symbol.

" _Your turn. Identify yourself_." The man questioned as Naruto narrowed his eyes as a couple of more people wormed their way out of the cover of the forest, surrounding them. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he slowly moved to draw his sword.

" _I could as you the same_. _What's your affiliation?_ " Naruto responded as he readied his lightsaber. He would not be taking any risks. If Konoha was destroyed then it was likely that their equipment stores were raided and that flak jacket might just be a ruse. This could be an enemy. The man narrowed his eyes as he started to pull out one of his two swords. Naruto stared at it intensely. The edges were black, but the discoloration wasn't uniform throughout the blade. It almost looked as if the blade had somehow been charred from being tempered over and over again.

" _Kenichi...Nakamura. Konoha's Jonin Lieutenant Commander of the Shinobi Alliance. You should be able to tell by my heab - err, armband_." The man righted his finger to pointing at the metal plate tied to his arm once he remembered he wasn't wearing it on his head. Well, this was pretty convenient for them. " _You, however, wear no headband. You should know better in this day and age. Surrender yourselves for interrogation or prepare to die_." Kenichi commanded. He himself was not aware of who they were. For all he knew they could be agents working for Orochimaru.

" _I'm afraid that we won't be surrendering to anyone. I'm actually hoping to meet with your leaders. Hokage gramps, preferably." Naruto_ asked, but the Shinobi scowled in response. That was when Naruto noticed Sasuke had grown tense and spoke through his now filtered voice.

" _Hey, cool it. This isn't someone-_ "

" _Hoping to assassinate the Kage? You really shouldn't reveal your plans so blatantly. Fine, if you won't come quietly then we'll just have to drag your corpses into a cell_." Kenichi interrupted, lifting his blade and vanishing from Naruto's sight. Naruto reached out with the Force to prepare his defense, but was pushed aside as Sasuke blocked Kenichi's sword, his Sharingan activated.

" _Listen here, Jedi, this seriously isn't an opponent you want to mess with_." Sasuke strained against Kenichi's blade that seemed like had been scorched by exposure to constant heat. It was as pitch black as his hair. Sasuke activated his lightning jutsu without hesitation and Kenichi jumped back to avoid the electrifying aura surrounding his opponent.

"Aim for stun! We need them to tell us where the Kage are hiding." Naruto shouted as the Clones quickly switched their rifles to stun and started to fire at their targets, who were all moving at the speed of a Jedi.

"Storm! Watch out!" Fang called out as Storm was knocked several feet away before crashing to the ground after a light jab from his assailant. A light jab that felt like getting stabbed with a twenty centimeter vibroknife and getting punched by a gamorrean thug. Getting up as he clutched his chest, Storm narrowed his eyes as he looked at his enemy. The man was around his height with brown hair and some seriously freaky pale eyes.

" _Surrender, your fate was already sealed when I became your opponent._ " The man questioned, switching into what Storm thought was a hand-to-hand combat stance. Storm noticed the intense glare the man was giving him with his unsettling eyes and grinned at that. Perfect, he loved close combat.

"If this is how it's gonna be all over the planet, I'm gonna have the time of my life here." Storm dropped his blaster and took up his own stance as he readied his defense. The pale eyed man charged forward at great speed, but is was nothing Storm couldn't counter. In his mind's eye, he pictured the man's hands as vibroblades and dodged his way around them. Storm moved in closer, diverting his opponents palm strikes with a simple push against his forearm. With a mighty roar, Storm slammed his fist into the shinobi's sternum, sending him flying back into a tree.

" _I take it you don't know who you're up against, Neji Hyuga, Jonin of the Hidden Leaf and the fated sixth Hokage._ " his opponent said as he rose and dusted himself off. He briefly massaged the impact point on his chest, and with that Storm smirked triumphantly.

"I have no idea what you're saying, man. It sounds half-Mandalorian, half-gibberish to me. I could probably understand the Mandalorian bits if I tried, but I wasn't instructed on how to interpret gibberish." Storm mocked his pale-eyed opponent, confident now that he knew his blows were being felt.

Now that the battle had begun, range advantage was quickly lost by the Clones as their targets approached and the situation quickly began to devolve into close combat. Blitz watched his opponent. His wild hair was growing in every direction and there was red makeup running from his eyes to his chin. The giant creature next to him seemed to be a loyal beast that fought for him in combat. Blitz was surprised when the beast transformed into a perfect replica of it's master with just a single cloud of smoke and began rushing forward.

The two bore their claws and began spinning violently, but the ever confident Captain kept his cool and waited for his opening. It didn't come, so he would have to make one. Reaching into his pouch, he tossed a concussion grenade into the air. It detonated just as the two figures moved in for the attack, sending them flying in separate directions. Blitz didn't have time to rest, as the man took to using a tree as a launching point for another spinning attack, he just barely moved out of the way in time, but his armor had gotten a few scratches on it and his helmet had been removed. His opponent grinned in presumed superiority.

" _You'd better just surrender now! Cause I, Kiba Inuzuka, the future sixth Hokage won't go down easily!" This_ Inuzuka man proclaimed proudly. Blitz's sweat dropped, not understanding a lick of what he had just said before he raised his blaster and fired, stunning the young man.

"You only hit me once, you know. Not exactly something to get excited about." Blitz hadn't understood the man's words, but he knew arrogance when he saw it. He dodged an attack from the man-beast behind him. Rolling to the side, he looked up to see the man charging at him again. Waiting till the last moment, he pulled up his blaster and fired again stunning the dog as well.

"Well, at least that went a lot smoother than I thought…" Blitz's mumbled. He was surprised when his arm was suddenly grasped by the man and flung as high speed into the trees.

" _I'm sorry, were you saying something? It's gonna take more than a little zap to knock me down for good. I'm a Jonin for a reason."_ Kiba boasted while Blitz rolled to his feet confused. He checked his settings and it was definitely set high enough to incapacitate any regular human. Then, Blitz remembered that this man was not a regular human, he was some sort of beast hybrid. Which meant stun weaponry would most likely be pointless against him.

While Storm and Blitz had been dragged away from the main conflict, the remaining Clones had managed to stick together and were facing the rest of the Shinobi scouting party. Fang found himself facing brown haired girl that was definitely the youngest in the group. Her pale eyes much the same as the man Storm had run off to do battle with, so he figured they must be related. Her moves were rougher and less refined than the male, but her power was something else. She was also lightning fast to the point that Fang, second only to Flash in terms of speed, was being outpaced by her.

She rushed in for another series of blows. With no other option, Fang dropped his blaster and unsheathed the long vibroknives under his gauntlets. Enabling his Stealth camo, he dodged her incoming attack pretty easily, but found himself reeling when his counterattack was blocked with a palm strike to the inside of his elbow. Feeling tremendous pain recoiling through his body, Fang chose to retreat to a safer distance.

 _"A cheap trick like invisibility isn't going to help you against a Byakugan as powerful as mine. Maybe my sister would be fooled by it, but not me."_ Fang heard her speak in the same language that none of them understood, but was off put by the fact that she was staring him right in the eyes.

King had unwillingly drawn the short straw and was facing off against two dark skinned youths. A nervous white haired one and a fiery red haired one both armed with curved longswords, and interesting design choice to only have the edge be on one side of the blade. But whatever the reason for the choice, it didn't help them against him any. The Clone all-star was dancing his way around the two ninja with his superior bladework.

 _"Oi, what the hell is wrong with you, Omoi? Get it together! It's just one guy."_ the redhead shouted.

 _"Man, that armor sure is scary. I wonder if they're some kind of super soldiers created in a pod by Orochimaru to destroy what's left of Konoha. That guy can seriously hold a grudge."_ the blond-haired Omoi went off into his own world as usual.

 _"Yeah right, and they're being lead by that traitor Uchiha. Bring your mind down from out of the clouds and focus! This guy is going to run circles around us if we don't work together."_ the redhead said as she closed in for another strike. King deflected her sword masterfully with his wristplate and zoomed in for what would be a certain kill, but felt his blade clang against the man's katana. His strength was greater than the girl's and King had to focus both his blades on blocking him.

 _"Man, I don't know what scares me more, him or you, Karui."_ The redhead took the opportunity to roll out of danger and go in for a second strike. King had no choice but to retreat, cutting branches down as he spun out of harm's way and into the path of his pursuers. Karui spit out a few leaves and twigs from her mouth, before she raged at her partner again.

 _"He's not half as scary as my husband when he gets pissed, so if you don't want to get squashed like you're some kind of damn bug, you'd better get it in gear! Samui-sensei is watching, don't disappoint her."_ Omoi wiped a bead of sweat from his brow as he recovered from the struggle against King's next power strike.

Stoic and Flash considered themselves lucky in that they were facing a gorgeous buxom blonde. They weren't so lucky in that she seemed to be the strongest one out of all their opponents. The two were being pressured by her skills with a tanto. Stoic had unsheathed the knife he rarely used and was managing to defend himself with it, while Flash opted to use his agility to avoid her attacks. This was all well and good for keeping themselves alive, but it did little to pressure their opponent.

Naruto instincts urged him to rush to the aid of his men struggling against the woman, but then he noticed that out of all everyone the one who was the worst off was Sasuke. He was being pushed back constantly by Kenichi's relentless offense. Clearly the superior swordsman, Kenichi parried Sasuke's attacks with ease and then struck back with precision and grace. Naruto was amazed at the shinobi's bladework, and for a moment it left him awestruck. Realizing that Sasuke was in the most immediate danger, Naruto made his choice. His blue blade came to life with a snap his and he sprinted forward towards Sasuke's opponent.

Kenichi was more than ready for him, however, and he quickly pushed Sasuke back once more before raising his blade to defend. Naruto chose Ataru as his initial method of attack and with a flying lunge, struck at the onyx haired Jonin. Then, something happened that surprised Naruto. Rather than block his attack, Kenichi had opted to flip over it, briefly stepping on the blond's back and enhancing his momentum with a brief but powerful kick.

 _'Wait, what?'_ was Naruto's only thought as he went crashing into a small tree and then into the ground. The former Jedi rose to his feet as he wiped away the scrapes from colliding with the trunk and looked back at Kenichi, who was against contesting Sasuke in a blade lock. One rhetorical question was on the blond's mind.

' _Did he just outmaneuver my Ataru?'_ Naruto was at a loss for words. Very few had ever managed to outpace his cadences with Ataru, and none had since he became a Master. Then Naruto remembered Sasuke's warning before the fight began. Maybe this really wasn't someone he could fool around with, especially if he was trouncing Sasuke who had been his equal during their little scuffle on Geonosis.

Naruto ran to join Sasuke, but rather than go for a one dimensional attack like before, he merely moved to cover the bounty hunter's flank. Kenichi's blade impacted on Naruto's saber, and Naruto was somewhat surprised that it didn't melt immediately. The only weapons that could stand up to lightsabers in the galaxy - aside from other lightsabers - were vibroblades and Mandalorian iron. Naruto didn't have to think hard to guess that it must be the latter.

Considering the similarities, it made sense. Stronger Shinobi leading and training newer Shinobi on missions drew a clear parallel to the Mandalorian Crusaders of old, and their languages were definitely under the same family considering how many words were the same.

Naruto pressed his attack, but found little success in gaining ground. Kenichi's blade was slowly starting to push him back. That's when Sasuke struck at Kenichi with his own blade. Breaking the blade lock, Kenichi spun wildly, rushing his heel into Naruto's side with a powerful roundhouse kick. Naruto moved quickly to diffuse the blow and recovered quicker than Kenichi had hoped. That made his move to block Sasuke dangerous. Kenichi changed his strategy and kept the momentum from his roundhouse going into Sasuke once more, but he had lost too much impacting Naruto and the bounty hunter struck back with a fierce kick to Kenichi's side. Sliding across the ground, Kenichi pulled back for a moment to regroup and reassess.

" _So, you both use blades, huh? Guess that makes things easier for me."_ Kenichi smirked as he drew his second blade. " _Personally, I like using just one a lot more, but I'm a lot better with two. Plus it looks a bit cooler, don't you think?"_ Kenichi flourished both of his blades before dashing at Naruto and Sasuke once more.

Naruto and Sasuke briefly glanced at one another before nodding. Sasuke sheathed his sword and drew his blaster while Naruto took the brunt of Kenichi's attack. Kenichi struck again and again with his twin blaes and Naruto felt the strain in his muscles. Not wanting to give any more ground, Naruto dug in hard while Sasuke set his blaster to kill. Taking position behind the blond, Sasuke began firing at their opponent who dodged the incoming bolts. Finally, he got a good shot in, but it was found to be no match for the blackened blades that batted it away and into a nearby tree.

Well, that tactic had gone down the drain a lot quicker than they had hoped.

Blades, blasters, none of it seemed to matter. Kenichi had been a step ahead of them every time. Naruto was starting to get sick of it, and Sasuke had been at that stage five minutes ago.

"Alright, I'm stumped. You got any info on this guy?" Naruto asked. Their lack of progress was definitely a hefty buzzkill looming overhead. Naruto didn't want to commit to using his full effort until they had some sort of attack plan. Applying his limited knowledge of Makashi and Djem So seemed to be sufficient for casual defense, so it was best to save more taxing efforts like Ataru or his personal form for later.

"Yeah, I got info galore. I don't think it's going to matter though because he hasn't even used his ninjutsu yet." Sasuke chuckled at the hopelessness of the situation.

"You're telling me this guy's speciality isn't kenjutsu?" Naruto glanced at Sasuke, incredulous. He had assumed that this guy was _**the**_ kenjutsu master of the Leaf or something.

"I didn't say that. Kenjutsu is only one of his specialties. Kenichi is just a one and a million talent that comes along once in a generation...just like my brother was. He's exceptional in almost every field." Sasuke reminisced about the good times for a moment, which proved to be dangerous as the Leaf shinobi resumed his offensive.

"So what's he not perfect at?" Naruto asked as his feet skidded across the dirt with each subsequent blow from their opponent.

"I don't suppose you have any high level genjutsu at your disposal, do you?" Sasuke asked rhetorically, parrying two sequential blows from Kenichi only to be thrown off balance by a third.

"Sorry, I left my comprehensive genjutsu mastery handbook in Jedi robes back on Coruscant." Naruto joked back as he ducked under the wide sweep of Kenichi's blade. He managed to deflect the second sweep.

"Darn, you shouldn't be so forgetful, Uzumaki." Sasuke snapped back with a grin under his helmet.

" _Don't you two know it's rude to talk about people behind their backs?! Especially in a language I can't understand!"_ their opponent had been eavesdropping to no avail, and hearing his name dropped a few times in their foreign conversation was far too irritating for the Leaf swordsman. He lashed out in a fury and Naruto readied himself for the barrage of attacks. He decided that now was the time to utilize Ataru in full. Naruto leapt towards the sky and started flipping through the air, striking wildly at Kenichi who blocked every blow. Naruto turned the strain of their collisions into momentum to launch himself into the air again and again striking with every descent. Naruto focused hard on his opponent, trying to sense some sort of weakness, but his mind blurred as he reached out with the Force.

' _Damn you, you stupid fox'_ Naruto cursed Kurama's intervention. He knew it wasn't really the tailed beast's fault. He was only doing what he was always trying to do, escape the seal. But his body being flooded by demonic chakra as a result of the seal weakening was the true source of his predicament.

Naruto focused again on Kenichi as he landed. He had to prove to his opponent that he was far from exhausted, so he kept up his Form IV offense. Naruto spun and jumped wildly, all the while Kenichi was dodging and parrying his blade. That was when Naruto discovered that concentrating so heavily on his opponent had revealed something he hadn't noticed before. It should've been obvious, even with his senses dulled, but the blond hadn't taken the time to make the observation that Kenichi's presence - and the presence of all the Shinobi nearby in the Forest even - felt like a complete void in the Force. Each Shinobi was a dark spot in his mind's eye. All of them...except for Sasuke.

Sasuke, by comparison, seemed only slightly more attuned than the average individual. Compared to the complete blackout that were the other Shinobi, he was practically a lighthouse. Especially in this forest that was practically transpiring with Force energy. Naruto also knew that Chakra seemed to suppress Midi-Chlorians. This meant one of two things to Naruto. Either Sasuke was unique amongst the people of Ajnin in that he was remarkably Force Sensitive like Naruto...or it was the more obvious explanation that Sasuke wasn't using chakra. He was holding back for some reason. But why?

"Hey, Uchiha. What's going on with you?" Naruto had to know the reason, but Sasuke only sneered back at the blond, seemingly offended.

"What do you mean what's going on with me? Aren't you supposed to be some big shot Jedi?" Naruto rolled his eyes in response. Stupid Uchiha and their stupid pride.

"Not that. I mean why are you holding back? This guy is obviously stronger than you." Sasuke widened his eyes briefly, but Naruto couldn't see them behind his helmet.

"I'm not holding back." Sasuke reaffirmed...or rather lied.

"Not using Chakra is kind of the definition of holding back."

"You mean you could tell?" He was a little impressed, but ultimately unsurprised. Damn Jedi and their psychic powers.

"I didn't notice until just now, but yeah, I can tell." Naruto smirked slightly as he danced around Kenichi blade with a graceful but unrefined Form II cadence.

"Look, things with me and Konoha are... complicated. Now's not the time. I can't use most of my jutsu with this helmet on and if I use any Lightning Release I'll be outed instantly." Naruto's mouth gaped in response. He was completely baffled by the apparent lack of logic.

"What does that have to do with not using chakra?!" Naruto almost shouted.

"The two Hyuga that were with the party can see Chakra with their dojutsu. If I use it at all, they might be able to recognize me from my chakra alone." Sasuke explained, but Naruto was still unconvinced of the severity of the issue.

"Why does that matter so much to you? Our window for being taken prisoner has probably expired. If we don't put some effort into this, he's gonna kill us."

"I don't think effort is gonna matter if Kenichi starts taking things seriously too. I don't think you understand how much _**he**_ is holding back. You might be able to match him now, but when he turns up the heat it's game over." Sasuke said grimly.

"You let me worry about that. Just start some chakra and start using that Sith lightning stuff like before." Sasuke had a look of confusion on behind his visor. Was he talking about the Chidori?

 _"You know, I'm starting to get pretty pissed off by all your secret conversations!"_ Kenichi, more than anything, hated being left out of the loop. Sheathing his blade, Kenichi's left hand went through a blinding fury of hand signs as he reached towards his tool pouch, pulling out half a dozen shuriken as he inhaled deeply.

' _Shit._ ' Sasuke screamed mentally.

" _ **Katon - Moeru Shuriken no Odoru**_ _(Fire Release - Blazing Shuriken Dance)"_ Kenichi roared, and with it a fireball emerged from his mouth, igniting the shuriken as he threw them at his foes. Sasuke deflected two with his vibroblade and dodged a third, while Naruto elected to dodge all three.

"Naruto, watch out!" Sasuke shouted, but Naruto was confused. He'd just dodged the shuriken. Then he sensed danger incoming, reactly almost too late, Naruto spun around and spun his blade, cutting two flaming shuriken to pieces, but that didn't stop the two others from impacting his left arm and shoulder. Naruto grunted as he felt the stabbing pain. He reached to remove the shuriken, but they were suddenly tugged out of him by some invisible force but Naruto then saw it was actually _nearly_ invisible ninja wire wrapped around Kenichi's fingers. The onyx haired shinobi flicked his fingers and the two shuriken came close enough to be reignited with a quick puff of flame. He sent both these and and two fresh stars of molten metal after Sasuke, as he jumped towards Naruto with one blade drawn.

" _ **Katon: Tsubasa no Moeru**_ _(Fire Release - Blazing Wings)"_ two small bursts of flame erupted from his closed fists. Naruto didn't notice it at first, but Kenichi had used the fire to rapidly heat up the air around him, giving him a brief moment of lift and a considerable burst of speed. Kenichi's free hand released the strings of the superheated shuriken as he flashed through a series of hand signs. It soon began to glow with an orange light as he approached the blond, who readied his blade for another ninjutsu.

" _ **Katon: Moegara Taiho**_ _(Fire Release - Cinder Cannon)"_ Kenichi lunged forward with his arm. Naruto, prepared to defend himself, swung towards his enemy's outstretched hand only to be blown backwards by the force of the explosion emanating from Kenichi's palm. It wasn't much substance, but the shockwave was something else for such a small attack. Still, Naruto recovered fairly easily, but he wasn't prepared for yet another ninjutsu.

" _ **Katon: Kogasu Kōsen**_ _(Fire Release - Scorch Ray)"_ Kenichi didn't let up and launched another fire ninjutsu. Naruto couldn't possibly react to three ninjutsu he had never seen one right after the other. As a stream of white hot fire flared from his hand, heading straight for Naruto's undefended right side. Before it could impact, however, Sasuke flew in and kicked Kenichi's arm away, Kenichi lost control of the technique and it collided directly with Sasuke's helmet, searing some of the metal away. In the interest of self preservation, Sasuke rushed to remove the melting helmet before it could burn him too much. He lucky, only suffering from a severely blistered cheek. Naruto expected another attack to come, but Kenichi just froze in place staring at Sasuke. His eyes glanced around to the other Shinobi across the battlefield who didn't seem to notice. Finally, they settled on Naruto, who reeled from the intensity of his glare.

 _"So, you do work for Orochimaru. I'm not a fan of liars. You're definitely getting your face melted now."_ Kenichi's fist glowed orange again as he readied another volley of flame.

 _"What are you talking about? I don't work for anyone. I'm out here on my own trying to find the Hokage."_ Kenichi rolled his eyes, how stupid did this blond think he was?

 _"Then how do you explain this traitor being part of your entourage?"_ Naruto eyes followed Kenichi's sword over to Sasuke, he briefly glanced back at Kenichi before doing a double take on the raven-haired bounty hunter, still clutching his singed cheek.

"Sasuke...you mean you...?" Everything made sense now. Sasuke's aversion to Ajnin, his reluctance to be discovered, as well as his complete silence on the matter.

"Look, it's not what you think, Jedi. I left Orochimaru almost as soon as I joined him once I realized he was just after my Sharingan. It was one of my conditions that I not be put on the Konoha front, so I never fought with any Konoha Shinobi while I was under him, only Akatsuki's redcloaks. "

 _"Seriously, you guys think you can just cut me out of every conversation with this stupid made up language. It's not like I don't know what you're talking about. Still, I will say I'm a little surprised. I thought you were stronger than this, Uchiha."_ Kenichi sheathed his blade and went went through the motions of performing hand signs. The distance between them kept Kenichi's unnecessary hand sign unseen by his opponent.

" _ **Fire Release: Honōdan**_ _(Katon: Flame Bullets)"_ extending his arms, Kenichi curled his glowing fingers like claws. Finger sized bullets of flame launched towards the two spacefarers. The weak attack was easily deflected by their blades, but it left them unprepared for the massive gust of wind that impacted them from behind, sending them scrambling through the air, trying to find footing on nothing. Kenichi leapt into the sky and unleashed a taijutsu combo on an unprepared Sasuke, launching him into the ground with a mighty crash. The raven-haired Uchiha was glad he was wearing armor.

Naruto found himself assaulted by another torrent of wind that left shallow cuts on him this time. Reaching out with the Force, Naruto kicked out, his foot painfully impacting against metal and being pushed away. Kenichi landed gracefully on a downed tree, smirking confidently after his brief victory against the treacherous Uchiha. But another person had landed next to him, a young woman with blond hair with a large fan propped against a large boulder. As he got to his feet, Sasuke tensed, recognizing the new arrival immediately.

 _"I was beginning to wonder if you had gotten my message, Lady Kazekage."_

'Kazekage'? Now Naruto was extremely interested in their conversation.

 _"Sure did, Kenichi. Reinforcements are on the way. I went ahead, but the rest of the strike team will be here as soon as they regroup."_ the Suna blond reported as Sasuke's eyes widened as he looked around for any incoming opponents, but breathed a sigh of relief that none were coming for at least another several minutes.

 _"Temari, good to see you're up and kicking after I trounced you for backstabbing Konoha during the Chunin exams."_ the Uchiha turncoat said with a smirk.

 _"Shut it, Uchiha."_ Temari growled _"At least I didn't_ **choose** _to turn against Konoha like you did. Orochimaru made that decision for us outside of our knowledge. You should know that better than anybody since you've been cozied up with him for the past decade."_ Temari spoke with deep venom in her words. Orochimaru had deceived, double-crossed, and destroyed her village. Not to mention what he had done to her brother. She was probably the one person in the Alliance who hated Orochimaru and the Sound Village more than anyone.

 _"I left Orochimaru behind after not even a year. I didn't need him to get stronger. I travelled far found a new teacher. I'm free of him."_ Sasuke boasted proudly.

 _"I'm sure. How's the curse mark treating you, by the way?"_ Temari struck a bullseye on Sasuke's nerves with that one. It was the one thing leftover tying him permanently to Orochimaru and Ajnin as a whole. He'd tried countless avenues, but even modern Galactic science was baffled in trying to cure it. That was the last straw for Sasuke, he charged towards the Kazekage in a mild rage, but he was careless and was blocked by Kenichi's glowing hand.

" _ **Katon - Hiken**_ _ **no Jutsu**_ _(Fire Release - Fire Fist Technique)"_ Sasuke was again thankful he was wearing armor, the might have melted his bare hand, but the Uchiha was pissed now and responded with a jutsu of his own.

" _ **Katon - Ryūka no Jutsu**_ _(Fire Release - Dragon Flame Technique)"_ Kenichi backed away to avoid being incinerated, but the flame was larger than his anticipated and his flak jacket caught fire during the retreat. He quickly removed it, leaving him only in his blue undershirt and pants. It was an inopportune time though, as Sasuke was already on the move - his Sharingan activated at last. Kenichi tried to maintain his defenses with Taijutsu, but Sasuke's added bulk gave him an advantage in force. Kenichi was thankful when the Uchiha was blown away again by Temari's giant fan.

 _"What's with that ridiculous getup, Uchiha? Afraid of a little owie so you put on some bulky armor?"_ the Kazekage taunted. Sasuke growled. Facing Kenichi and Temari alone was definitely a death sentence.

 _"Good work, Lady Kazekage. But if you don't mind, I'd like you to take care of that blond over there. He's dangerous, and he seems to be their leader. Probably one of Orochimaru's new lieutenants"_ Kenichi stated, pointing towards Naruto. Temari nodded with a smirk as she jumped towards Naruto, her fan spread out beneath her as she glided towards him. She sent a cutting wind jutsu at Naruto, but he had her pegged and was prepared to dodge. He quickly took note of her movements and found himself disappointed. Was this really the Kazekage? She didn't seem all that strong. Definitely weaker than he expected, and she didn't hold a candle to Kenichi in terms of speed or power. Perhaps she had some kind of secret technique? He would have to be careful.

 _"Sounds fine, but what do you plan to do? Sasuke's a bit much for one person."_

 _"I guess I'll just have to go wild as I deal with this traitor..."_ wisps of flame began billowing from Kenichi as he drew his blade once again. His muscles flexed as chakra swelled up inside him. Sasuke trembled when he realized what was happening. Not in excitement, but in slight fear. He knew this technique, and it was terrifying to experience even when he was on Kenichi's side. Now that he was on the opposite end of it...

" _ **Katon - Rekka no Ken**_ _(Fire Release - Blazing Blade)"_ the air began to heat up as Kenichi's arms burst into flame all the way up to his shoulder, incinerating what was left of his sleeves. His black blade began to make a loud screeching noise as it reacted to the heat coursing through it. Suddenly, the noise stopped and the blade exploded into a torrent of flame, extending its length with a good twenty centimeters of pure fire. The flames around his arms dulled their roar in response to the sudden combustion on his sword.

" _Nice to finally meet you in battle... 'Kenichi of the Burning Leaf'"_ Sasuke addressed his opponent by his infamous moniker with a sharp stare and a false grin. This facade was all he could do to preserve his pride. Internally, he knew what Kenichi was capable of when using his full power. He would definitely need someone to assist him, and fast. He could only hope the blond Jedi would be able to defeat Temari quickly enough. He should be able to with little difficulty.

 _"I wish I could say the same for you, 'Last of the Uchiha'. Unfortunately, my respect for you vanished along with your betrayal."_ Kenichi returned the favor. The two Shinobi jumped towards one another, their blades clashing with a sharp hiss as the vibration cell and fire chakra contained within them tried to overpower one another.

Naruto took a moment to observe his surroundings now that he could recuperate his strength against this disappointment of a Kazekage. With that title he had expected her to at least be on Kenichi's level, if not stronger.

Blitz had wisely chosen to make his way back to the group despite struggling against his opponent, who completely outclassed him in speed and power. To make matters worse, he was effectively fighting a two on one battle thanks to his transforming beast. The passing spirals of claws and fangs had chipped away at his armor, eventually causing him to remove much of it, leaving only his grey bodysuit covering his upper body. Without the heavy metal plates to weigh him down, he sped up ever so slightly, enough that he was able to consistently dodge his opponents attacks. He eventually lured Kiba into making a poor attack choice and ended up landing a full power stun on him.

Fang was still facing one of the Hyuga that Sasuke had pointed out, but the contest appeared close...or was it? The girl was cut along her arms and legs pretty badly, and it didn't look like she had managed to get a clean hit on him yet. It seemed like when the battle didn't involve lightsabers, Fang was a lot more capable in close combat than he had first thought. The others had also begun to far better. King had subdued his opponents with ninja wire and moved to back up Flash and Stoic against the big chested blond. Perhaps Naruto was worried over nothing. He should learn to trust his men to handle themselves more.

Stoic dropped from above with his trench-style vibroknife ready, trying to surprise his enemy that was occupied tangoing with King. She had caught on almost immediately and his sneak attack failed miserably, in fact, it ended up backfiring as she kicked him viciously, shattering the transparisteel of his visor. He removed it and tried throwing it as an improvised projectile, but she cut through it with ease before returning to defend against her primary opponent, the man that had defeated the rest of her team.

"You're a lot stronger than you look lady." King's vibroknives collided with the blonde's tanto, each strike leaving a stinging sensation up his arms. This woman was extremely skilled with that knife of hers. It didn't matter how much he tried, he just couldn't get a clean opening for Flash or Stoic to land a finish blow. She was probably stronger than even Ventress had been in their duel a little over a month ago. Recalling what little he had learned from Naruto, King spoke in the Ajnin language. " _Name is King. You?"_ King said between breaths. He was curious to know just who he was facing. Despite his thick accent, his opponent seemed to understand.

 _"Samui."_ she answered plainly.

 _"Samui...You are powerful."_ King complimented as best he could. The blonde grinned slightly at that.

 _"You're pretty cool yourself...King. I'm quite impressed with those moves of yours in that heavy armor. It's too bad you're with Orochimaru. You would be helpful in our ranks."_ Samui responded, but King had lost her with that sentence. He had also lost sight of her, her quick movements too fast for even his highly trained eyes to see. She had closed in and King barely leaned out of the way of her tanto slashing through his helmet like butter. His visor display faded as the bisected power cell failed.

With the protective headgear now useless, King removed it and chucked it into the ground. Samui was about to strike again, but she noticed the similarities between Stoic and King... or rather, the fact that they were totally identical aside from hairstyle and the few extra scars that King had.

 _"Wait, hold on. Don't tell me the two of you are twins."_ She was a bit curious. Twins weren't unheard of, but they were still a rare enough occurence to warrant a passing question. King caught her last word, and quickly corrected her.

 _"Twins? No. Clones."_ Samui's eyes widened slightly. Clones...? There was no Clone technique that let you wear different styled armor, and a cosmetic transformation in battle was not only pointless, but downright wasteful. Did that mean...were these products of Orochimaru's genetic experiments like Tenzo?

 _"Holy shit! I totally called it! Evil super soldier clones created by Orochimaru being led by Sasuke Uchiha to destroy Konoha!"_ Omoi called out from his position tied firmly to a tree, incredulous. Karui reached over with her foot and kicked him in the shin.

" _Shut up already, idiot. You didn't say anything about them being clones, and I was the one that said Uchiha was leading them, at least give me my half of the credit."_ Omoi simply slid his legs out of the way so that Karui had nothing to kick. She started screaming at him even louder, so Omoi reluctantly moved his legs back into striking range to protect his ears.

 **Somewhere in the Forest**

Storm cursed himself for being drawn out so far away from the others, as he was now having one hell of a time against the pale-eyed Hyuga. Despite his superiority in close combat over his brothers, his opponent proved to be one tough bastard - seldom letting any of Storm's attacks breakthrough his rotating shield of energy. Despite his failed offensive though, Storm had proven extremely resilient to the strange palm thrusts and finger jabs Neji was dealing out.

 _'I can't believe my Jūken isn't having any effect on him. I've hit him at least a couple dozen times. What kind of monster is he to be able to stay standing after that?'_ Neji was utterly aghast at Storm's resilience. The Hyuga was not used to fighting an opponent for this long, and it was beginning to take its toll on his stamina. Neji noticed his opponent was attacking him head on, and he readied his eight trigrams defense. Pivoting along his heels, Neji spun as he expelled chakra from his tenketsu to defend against Storm's incoming kick.

Neji felt a powerful impact on his side and collapsed to the ground in pain. Storm's single kick had broken through his defenses. Looking up, he saw that he had completely shredded through his opponent's armor, but the metal leg concealed underneath was unscathed. Neji took solace in the fact that he had lost due to a lack of awareness, rather than his lack of skill. The metal leg swiped across the Hyuga's face, knocking him unconscious.

Finding his bearings, Storm's scanners suddenly picked up three signatures moving rapidly through the trees. Willing to take a bet that they were headed towards Naruto and the others, Storm followed close behind.

 **With the Main Battle**

Fang had fought hard, trying to gain the upper hand, but this girl was simply not having it. The defeat of her comrades had pushed her to fight even harder, and his left arm was beginning to go numb from being poked with the force of a hundred punches multiple times. Thankfully, it was only his left arm suffering this. His cybernetic right one was completely unaffected, a fact that seemed to catch his opponent off guard when he used it to sucker punch her when she got too close for comfort.

"That…wasn't too hard…" Fang lied as he stood over the unconscious brunette girl. He was exhausted.

"Oi, you ok?" Flash questioned Fang, who huffed at his defeated opponent.

"I'm just... peachy." Fang was gasping for air as he massaged his arm. Flash took note and began analyzing the battlefield. He didn't know about Storm off in the distance, but aside from him that left King as the only one of the Clones that had yet to finish off his - er, well... Flash briefly lamented his inability to defeat his opponent even with help from Stoic. King had to take over for them after subduing two foes already. Apart from the Clones, the bounty hunter was having serious trouble against the man with combusting arms and Naruto was seemingly treating the blond fan lady with a certain degree of disdain.

 __ _"_ _ **Fūton - Ōkamaitachi no Jutsu**_ _(Wind Release - Cyclone Scythe Technique)!"_ Temari was somewhat sick of being treated like a joke, and summoned forth her most powerful wind jutsu. Having gotten distracted by the events around him, Naruto went into a brief panic as he dodged the pockets of wind trying to slice him to pieces. Once he'd regained his composure, he found dodging the attacks... not exactly easy, but not overly difficult. Naruto raised his saber and moved in for a dismembering strike, but he suddenly sensed danger. Backing away, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as a bolt of lightning struck exactly where he had intended to be just a few moments earlier. Looking around for the source, Naruto came up empty handed. He sensed an incoming attack again and jumped out of the way; another bolt of lightning.

 _"Well, this certainly is a lively gathering. Wouldn't you agree, Asuma?"_ a voice had drawn the attention of the entire battlefield to the tree branches above, where three figures stood.

 _"Definitely looks that way, Darui. These Sound bastards are getting bolder and bolder every day. They're look ready for combat all geared up in armor like that. They almost look like those Samurai from the Land of Iron."_ A grizzly-looking bearded man, presumably this 'Asuma', was sizing up the battlefield. His eyes locked on the duel knife user wearing red armor. He took a puff on the cigarette in his mouth and exhaled the smoke out of the other corner with a deep sigh.

 _"Things still seem pretty dull overall. But I'm surprised they managed to defeat the Hyuga boy. I always thought he was pretty strong."_ Another dark-skinned platinum blond - Darui - made his appearance.

 _"Neji is a highly capable Jonin. We probably should take this threat seriously. No time for fooling around."_ said the third figure. His masked face and grey hair was instantly recognizeable to Sasuke, who was not looking forward to this unexpected reunion with his old sensei in the slightest.

 _"Hey, glad you finally made it, Asuma."_ Kenichi called out from his duel with Sasuke below. The greying grizzly bear smiled as he spit out his cigarette butt.

 _"Yo, Kenichi, I didn't know you were stationed out here buddy. Take a look, I brought some reinforcements."_ Asuma pretended as if Kenichi were blind to the other two elite Jonin standing beside him. The grey-haired scarecrow chose to jump down to the ground to better provide assistance for Kenichi.

 _"I can see that. Good to have you with us as usual General Darui; General Hatake. But don't strike teams usually consist of five members? Where's your fifth?"_ Darui and Asuma both glanced behind them, slightly curious.

 _"Yo, ya fools! Why ya acting cool when ya know you're about to duel?"_ As if on cue, a fourth figure, yet another dark-skinned platinum blond leapt from the tree tops and onto the grass below - his multitude of swords swaying with his movements. Naruto was beginning to wonder if that was the only hair color they allowed in Kumo. At least this one had a goatee and sunglasses to break up the monotony. The black frame of his shades shined in the light as his mouth twisted into a grin. He struck a dramatic pose that was baffling to Naruto, but the Jedi was still wary of the danger was sensing.

" _Hope you're ready to battle up here in the 'Bee'-hive. Cause once I'm through with you, none will be alive."_

 **Well? How was it? Good? Bad? Leave a review or two! I also hope that you all shall join the discord! Remember the Q &A will be held on Discord only! **


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